Unexpecting age

This essay argues that how we view our own old age is highly influenced by socially pervasive, though never explicit, expectations regarding old age as a generic category. I idenfiy four key expectations - the right to an old age; the idea that being old means being endowed with certain (positive or negative) characteristics; the fragmented relationship between the phases of life; and the assumption of the asocial nature of the aging process--and explore the sometimes contradictory ways in which these impact upon our own journeys through the life course.