[AGING AS A SOCIOCULTURAL AND EXISTENTIAL PHENOMENON]

The article considers aging as a complex socio-cultural and existential phenomenon that goes beyond the exclusively biological process. The purpose of the study is to analyze aging as a multidimensional phenomenon, including social, cultural and philosophical aspects, as well as to substantiate the need for an integrative approach to its study. The paper shows that old age is socially constructed through norms, values, and institutional practices that determine the status and role of older people in society. At the same time, aging is revealed as an important stage of the existential formation of a personality, associated with a reassessment of life experience, comprehension of time, finiteness and the meaning of existence. Special attention is paid to the concept of active aging, the problem of ageism, the phenomenon of life review, the search for the meaning of life in later life, existential loneliness and identity transformation. Based on the analysis of philosophical and gerontological approaches, it is concluded that aging should be understood not as a period of loss exclusively, but as a significant stage of life with its own value, meaning and potential. The necessity of forming a more humanistic model of attitude to old age in the context of demographic aging of the population is substantiated.