eight - Conclusion

Summary

The aim of this book has been to map out the present day time-spaces of ageing and later life. In drawing together the wide range of different contexts in which old age occurs a number of inferences can be made. The main conclusion is that there does not seem to be one single global time-space of later life. Instead the economic, political and cultural coordinates of later life are located in a series of overlapping, sometimes conflicting, and sometimes co-ordinated spatial logics and temporal frames. This can be illustrated through a number of subsidiary conclusions that relate to the individual chapters. These show that: i) there is evidence that the third age has become what could be described as a free floating global signifier; ii) that material aspects of globalisation have a very weak effect on the conditions of later life; and iii) that there are a number of emerging epistemic communities that are actively involved in trying to shape later life. These findings are, however, conditional and impel us to develop new theoretical models within gerontology which would allow us to handle the complex interrelations between these spatial logics as they develop.

New spaces for old? Multiple spatialities of ageing and later life

The analyses presented throughout the book lend overwhelming support to the argument that there has been a more or less radical transformation of the temporal coordinates of later life during the past few decades. However, the spatial (re)configuration of these new temporalities does not easily map on to a single logic of globalisation. Thus, to answer to the primary research question investigated in the book, there is little evidence for a global time-space of ageing and later life. Yet neither is it the case that we see the continuing presence of a set of mutually exclusive time-spaces of ageing and later life contained within separate nation states. Instead of a simple model we see a number of variegated landscapes which change depending on the lens that is being used. Consequently, when we look at topics such as engagement with consumer culture or patterns of tourism we can see a relatively global landscape.