OLD-AGE DOESNT COME ALONE - DISCURSIVE REPRESENTATIONS OF HEALTH-IN-AGING IN GERIATRIC-MEDICINE

Traditional approaches to identity across the lifespan have assumed th at age itself and generational statuses and roles determine ''who we c an be.'' In contrast, a discursive perspective can show how, during in teraction, we actively construct age-salient identities for ourselves and others through talk. Conversational processes of age-identity mana gement am explored in a corpus of (United Kingdom) geriatric medical o utpatient consultations. In diverse ways, doctors deny the age-relevan ce of medical troubles that their patients routinely endorse.