What is Aging? If you think about it, there is no set way to define how old someone is...it really is all relative. There are however four set ways that we seem to define aging in a social perspective; those are the following:
1) Chronological: The primary way we define aging, basically it is how many years someone has lived. It is really useful for setting limits on priviliges, such as driving or voting. It is also great for grouping people together for statistics or research purposes. However, it does not completely capture what aging is all about, because someone who is sixteen nowadays has the possibility to become a parent, and grandparent in the 30's. So, it is not completely accurate to define how 'old' someone is.
2) Roles: This leads us to the next way we can define 'old' - that of social roles. Social roles define us and often times give us priviliges and restrictions in life. For example, a grandma is expected to act, dress, and talk a certain way while a teenager has different expectations. This can be used as an indicator of how old someone is, because often times these roles accompany age as well. Its weakness lies in the fact that roles are very arbitrary these days. A young person may be a widow or divorcee, or may be taking care of an ill parent, in what is known as role reversal.
3) Functional: The next way then that someone can be defined, is functionally. This examines such things as how a person gets around in the day. Do you have a lot of energy, or are you hampered by an injured back? This is a fairly good indicator of how 'old' someone is, because even young people can become 'old' if they are limited by the effects of cancer. However, it does not encapsulate everything by itself, because functionality varies as well. This requires one more additional component....
4) Perception: This is perhaps one of the best indicators as to how old someone is. It reflects the idiom 'you are as old as you feel' within its definition. What may have been old to you as a five year old kid no longer appears so old as you approach your late thirties. Health is a major factor, but as long as you perceive yourself as healthy, then you may consider yourself young, but once you consider yourself tired, sick, or depressed, then you tend to become older.
The main idea of this is not to set a clear definition of what aging is, but more than anything, to open your eyes that aging is an amorphous, ambiguous topic that is often hard to define just based on certain factors. It is an important area of study, and this is what lies at the heart of the field known as gerontology.
