Postmodern Aging and the Loss of Meaning

This article reviews several authors' perspectives on the advantages and disadvantages of a global postmodern society and its effect on the affluent and not-so-affluent elderly. Without the socioeconomic supports of the past, the not-so-affluent elderly may find themselves insecure and anxious about their core identity in a postmodern world, while the affluent elderly with the resources to consume postmodern society's growing array of medical procedures, technological devices, etc. may benefit from the multiple, shifting identities characteristic of postmodern culture. Without recognition of what aging has to teach us about the human condition, several authors see a loss of existential/spiritual meaning in postmodern society.