By Lynette Lim

Unravelling Anti-Aging: A Critical Sociological Assessment explores the physical, mental, and emotional aspects of aging that contribute to individual holistic well-being from a multidimensional theoretical approach. It theorizes biomedical views on biological and psychological aging and how aging can be stopped by regenerative medicine. It also discusses the discourses and processes that influence the social constructs of aging through the optics of various sociological theories, due to the lack of gerontological theories.

Gerontology is dominated by the “decline” narrative in biology and psychology, which sees aging as a disease. Biomedical gerontologists like Aubrey De Grey suggest that the elimination of death and longevity lie in the perfection of biomedical cell nutrition. Foucault, the French social historian, analyzed the power relations between professional caregivers and older people, who were deemed incapable of self-awareness and autonomy. This resulted in them being treated to the highest levels of dominance and surveillance in the aged care hierarchy. I feel that the biomedical models of aging discussed viewed gerontology as a problem and is biased against the elderly.

I concur with the concluding chapter’s stance on embracing a holistic view of aging without prejudice to older people. The biography of aging, as discussed in the book, “seeks to give voice to the older persons experience of their own worlds and relationships with others.” Ultimately, the biography of aging celebrates aging, and respects the diversity of individual experiences, rather than objectifying older people as a homogenous group. Despite the absence of a framework of its own, this approach broadens my understanding of gerontology.