Old age in the context of age transitions

Abstract

The reflection on age-related transitions in the direction from birth to death is presented. The main ideas of age transition in scientific discourse are highlighted: as a phenomenon of age-related development, which demonstrates the pace, methods and mechanisms of implementation of life programs adopted for action; as a transforming sociocultural phenomenon in a historical context; as a special semantic configuration. The content of the concept of age transition as an intermediate position of a person is revealed, when new border zones and areas outside the representative age space open, when intense point feelings appear that enhance, transform or guide perception and understanding. The semantic existential of age-related transitions is objectified through such meaningful characteristics as: the need to be understood by the Other, “without the right of return,” the motivating reason for the mechanism of further development or inhibition of development through the collapse of needs and loss of the meaning of life. Attention is drawn to the connectedness of age transitions, while at the same time the fact that each subsequent age transition cannot be exhausted by the knowledge of the previous transition is emphasized. The content of the transition is determined by both individual characteristics and contextual factors. New phenomena associated with age transitions are brought into the discussion: delayed maturation, the return of the figure of the “eternal child” with his emotions, passions, affects, with festival culture (games, entertainment) and a culture of reasoning, built on the devaluation of the experience and knowledge of previous generations, for in which further age stages become a continuation of childhood, which will never end, stages of life “for oneself”. The features of the age-related transition to an old age are shown as the transition to a special atmosphere, including the formation of a special personal profile, life experience, selectivity in social interactions in the direction of creating trusting contacts and emotional involvement in them. The analysis of a number of factors that complicate the transition to old age in modern conditions is made: subjective rejection of one’s own old age, increasing intergenerational distance and conflicts.

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