The seductiveness of agelessness

In recent years, many researchers in the study of ageing have adopted a ter minology of 'agelessness'. They argue that old age is nothing more than a s ocial construct and that until it is eliminated as a conceptual category, a geism will continue to flourish. This article challenges this view, stating that the current tendency towards 'agelessness' is itself a form of ageism , depriving the old of one of their most hard-earned resources: their age. Specific theories of ageing (successful ageing, mask of ageing, continuity theory) are assessed in this light, and original data are presented as evid ence of old age as a unique phase of the lifecycle replete with continued d evelopmental possibilities.