Old Age and Identity. A Gerontological Review

Old Age and Identity. A Gerontological Review

David Lopez Romero, Dulce Abril Galindo Luna, Jose Jesus Serrano Ruiz, Ricardo Ivan Bravo Chavez, Asael Lazcano Ortiz

Autonomous University of the State of Hidalgo, Mexico.

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2025.906000116

Received: 27 May 2025; Accepted: 03 June 2025; Published: 02 July 2025

ABSTRACT

Old age is a stage of life, the final one for all living beings. In the case of humans, old age is not just another phase. It represents a social construct that allows the aging person to adopt certain roles and social skills in order to understand that they have aged and that biological functions will inevitable decline. Therefore, care and social management needs should be recognized as a right, and the corresponding experiences will vary depending on the individuals’ health and lifestyle. This paper addresses how a person adopts the social characteristic of being old and its various scenarios. Identity is shaped by life experiences and, as we age, it manifests through a series of actions that are fundamental in this stage of life.

Key words: Old age, identity, process

INTRODUCTION

It is undeniable that the construction and generation of knowledge in the different areas of knowledge have a series of characteristics that enrich and broaden their scops of action. Gerontology is no exception. It is worth noting that its disciplinary and scientific nature is enhanced and enriched by the diverse visions and perspectives contributed by its various areas of involvement.

This paper explores key aspects that help the reader approach the topic of old age through the formation of identity. Although this is a rarely addressed subject, it deserves attention when understood as a fundamental dimension of human life within a society stratified by age groups and highlighting the voices and experiences of those who are aging, or have already aged, is essential, as it allows their personal histories to take a relevant and meaningful place in the broader social narrative.

Based on the above, this proposal enables a series of analytical exercises that facilitate the understanding of complex social phenomena such as the construction of old age as a stage of life or social phenomenon. In this context, old age can be understood as a stage within the life course, presenting fundamental elements for the formation of identity. Thus, people who have grown old seem to be the same, however, this assertion is completely contrary, since it depends on several factors that directly influence aging.

Shaping old age

One of the most frequently asked questions in gerontology courses is: what defines a scientific discipline that intrinsically addresses the phenomenon of old age? The answer can be as simple or as complex as one chooses to approach it.

First, it is important to note that there is a specialized field of knowledge devoted to this subject. Etymologically, the term gerontology refers to the study of aging or the elderly. It is a term that belongs to the social sciences, in contrast to geriatrics, which is the branch of medicine focused on the health care of the elderly, much like specialties such as neurology or cardiology. Therefore, starting with the construction of the term, we have a reliable clue as to what we are looking for. Secondly, this scientific discipline, gerontology, is characterized by its interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, and transdisciplinary nature, often involving with different levels of proper use, misuse and overuse of these three approaches and understandings of the same problem[1].

Third, if we understand from the perspective of gnosis and episteme, that the construction of the object of study is, in itself, an elderly person, we would be limiting and reducing it to its most basic form by defining the object in such a way. Therefore, following the idea of Cabrera et al. (4) we cannot allow this to happen particularly when considering the formation and nature of scientific knowledge from an interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, and transdisciplinary perspective.

From the above, we can identify three different models or levels of complexity: the elderly person as an individual or an objective, old age as a phenomenon, and aging as a biological, psychological, social and cultural process.

If we consider that the nature of our possibility to act at these levels is complex, we can consider, in turn, that complexity presents a multicausality, while we can establish the various fields of action (1).

Likewise, alongside with multicausality, we can find that this concept, object, construct and process are polysemic and multifactorial with determinants, aspects, indices, and causes influencing and shaping the relationships between all those involved. Therefore, to consider the elderly person, old age, and aging as a single social construction would not be particularly acceptable.

Up to this point we have discuss the general context regarding the delimitation of the topic. Now, we will turn to the focus of this work:  understanding of old age and its identity process. Ruiz and Diez (8) and Alonso et. al. (2) refer that nowadays aging is a matter of feelings and not of numbers, which is necessarily centered on people, their emotions, and feelings rather than on demographic or macroeconomic issues.

The social understanding of facts, events, and phenomena offers vast opportunities for exploration within gerontology. As a discipline that works with people, it must necessarily identify them, that is to say, it must construct the way to be able to conceive them. The construction of identity is the first aspect we must consider in the social field: what defines an elderly person, how should they be cared for, and what do they need?  These are questions often posed by those in training. Part of the answer can be constructed by addressing two recurrent questions in my courses: how do I know when someone is elderly, how will I know when I myself will be old? The above is based on the understanding that the stage of life addressed in this work involves a series of elements that contribute to the construction of identity. For example, age, from a sociological perspective is acquired through elements of recognition by others (9).  That is, age is not solely determined by biological factors; rather, it acquires different meanings not only among societies, but also within the same society, differences are established mainly according to the social roles that children, young and old people occupy in their social groups (10). It is then understood that age is not a closed category. However, the aim is not to substitute one referent (such as age) for another, but rather to approach an understanding of the complex identity processes that emerge from the stage of life being examined.

Sharing Salazar’s position (7), identity is formed by multiple affiliations, yet is essential to emphasize that it is also unique and experienced as a unified whole. A person’s identity is not a juxtaposition of autonomous belongings, it is not a unilinear, identical, and repeatable process. On the contrary, it is enriched by a wide range of life possibilities. That is to say, personal identity consists of the positive markers or foundations of identity combined with an individual’s life history, which is shaped and sustained through these very supports. Personal identity is related to the assumption that the individual can be differentiated from others and that unique biographical facts are attached.

Identity is given as the central system of meanings of an individual personality, which normatively orients and confers meaning to their actions. But these meanings are not arbitrary constructions nor are they defined by the individuals themselves in the narrow framework of their daily interactions, rather, they result from the internalization of highly generalized and shared values, norms, and cultural codes, mediated by the social system.  In other words, through the internalization of a set of institutionalized roles, the individual enters into communication with the cultural universe of symbols and values in such a way that the latter becomes a constitutive part of they identity. In this way, the mature and normal identity of the individual represents a stable, unitary, and coherent component of the individual personality.

One of the ways we come to know ourselves is through human ontogeny, which is the study of growth and development in both our biological and social dimensions. As beings animals shaped by multiple biocultural processes, we cannot separate these important aspects of ourselves and we must always consider the various stages of life. However, it is also important to highlight the widespread use of stereotypes, which often lead to negative attitudes toward perceived declines in physical appearance, social presence, and cognitive abilities. In the end, old age is often overlooked, despite being the culmination of the life trajectory.

Aging should be understood as a process, but not only in a linear manner within the life cycle. As referred to by Hernández et al. (5), it is a social construction that can present many setbacks and also makes some qualitative leaps of cultural change, such as those linked to the demographic revolution of this century. At the individual level, this process is dynamic and discontinuous, which, to be understood, should not only be observed and known from a state of old age, from a static situation of just being old but also as a social and biographical construction (6). Therefore, it is necessary to analyze aging through a biographical reading and prior experiences, as this approach allows us to understand the changes and circumscribe them not as isolated events, but as a part of a complete vital experience. Both, the study of individual lives and the study of social changes must be seen as a constant interrelation of vital time, socially defined time and historical time. More than thirty years ago, the biographical perspective began to be used in studies on aging, which provides a broad vision of the social construction of old age. In it, the subject matter considers in a relevant way the daily life of the elderly and the social construction of old age is directly related to the aging individual and their constant interaction with their society. The biographical approach focuses on the question of meaning. Not only in how individuals give meaning to their life experiences but also in the absence of meaning in old age. It is a broader, experiential, and cultural perspective on aging, and a view of the life cycle as a biographical and not only a biological experience, one that individuals actively shape and give meaning to, both socially and linguistically. While acknowledging the central role of meaning in understanding the social construction of different ages throughout the life course, it also highlights the importance of the interpretation. The daily experiences of aging people and the approaches of the social sciences are linked by interpretations and linguistic communications, rather than by facts, thus criticizing the fragmented and static conception of the life cycle and the preconceived interpretations, which do not offer a positive idea of aging and the possibilities of human development. These approaches undoubtedly bring to the fore an epistemological problem, about the meaning of old age, of the life course, of reflecting on what old age is and how we should understand it.

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

Identity has an integrative dimension in the sense that provides the individual with an interpretative framework, allowing them to interweave past, present, and future experiences within the unity of their biography and is related to the sense of self-continuity over time (3).

Given the above definitions, we observe positions that indicate how personal and collective identity are constructed and formed.

It is obvious that in these few lines, we have not been able to fully address the intricate nature of identity formation in old age. It is also true that the social implications are far more complex and require many more lines of discussion, not necessarily arising from this author. What is clear to me, however, is that gerontology, as a scientific discipline focused on addressing these issues, carries a broad responsibility. It must not only focus on training but also work towards building a profession with a social character, whose commitments extend beyond an institution or office, fostering a dialogue between all stakeholders, specialists, and users. This dialogue is essential for ensuring that this social connection permeates the broader social context. It is necessary to work not only on training but also on building a profession with a social character, one whose commitments extend beyond an institution or office to foster a dialogue between specialists and users. This dialogue will allow this social conjunction to permeate our character and identity as a species.

REFERENCES

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FOOTNOTES

[1] Interdisciplinary is understood as the way of approaching the same problem from different professional backgrounds, so gerontology can address a problem such as chronic degenerative diseases with physicians, nurses, nutritionists, and obviously, gerontologists. Multidisciplinarity can be understood as the possibility of studying a process, something more complex, from different fields of knowledge, old age understood from medicine, sociology, anthropology, economics, or biology. Finally, transdiscipline can be handled as the character that a problem becomes so complex that we must separate it into different stages. For example, in the aging process, previous stage is the pre-senior stage that would have a preventive character to avoid complications when reaching the stage of life, and people who are themselves within 60 years can locate them with problems that have a more corrective than preventive character.