Title:	The Symbolism of Globalization, Development, and Aging
Authors:	Steven L. Arxer John W. Murphy
Keywords:	Globalization
Issue Date:	2013
Publisher:	Springer
Description:	Presupposed by the contributors to this volume is that a new era has dawned in the fi eld of social theory. Habermas (1992), for example, refers to this period as “postmetaphysical.” At the core of this designation is a dramatic shift in philosophy, almost another Copernican revolution. Gone is the traditional commitment to fi rst philosophy, which is characterized traditionally by a search for an absolute foundation for knowledge and order. Subsequent to the onset of post-metaphysics, this trek is considered to be futile. The problem is that fi rst philosophy is premised on a rendition of dualism that has lost legitimacy in many quarters. Following the work of a host of writers, in both the humanities and the sciences, this principle is defunct (Caro and Murphy 2002). For example, in both quantum physics and philosophies, such as phenomenology, reality and the human presence are understood to be intimately intertwined. Reality, simply put, is shaped by human intervention. The pursuit of objectivity, therefore, is eclipsed by the idea that all knowledge claims re fl ect particular judgments and commitments. As Roland Barthes (1988) describes this change, objectivity represents little more than a particular interpretation of acceptable knowledge. Social gerontology is not exempt from this trend. Aging, accordingly, can no longer be thought legitimately to adhere to a natural trajectory. Consistent with the post-metaphysical thesis, this process is mediated fully by language use and other symbolic facets of social existence. For this reason, while relying on the insights of Simone de Beauvoir (2010), age does not simply exist but is embedded in how persons choose to construct or make their lives. In this sense, a key point of this book is that aging is symbolic. Certain assumptions are advanced, accordingly, that determine the so-called normal life course. And the outcomes of these beliefs are not natural but simply regularly imbibed by persons. Hence a particular option for constructing a meaningful existence is passed off as natural, even inevitable.
URI:	http://10.6.20.12:80/handle/123456789/52581
ISBN:	978-1-4614-4508-1
Appears in Collections:	Population Studies

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