Concepts of time and narrative temporality in the study of aging

In the context of present day Western culture, human aging is in danger of losing its temporal qualities because of the way it is objectified by scientific research and practical organization. An overemphasis on chronological concepts of time plays an important role in this process. Such concepts have a special function: they help to produce exact, but abstract and formal measurements. For gerontology, chronological time is indispensable because of its general scope of measurement. At the same time, we have to acknowledge that chronological time concepts can only be of limited significance for understanding the temporal dimensions of aging. Firstly, it is argued that even for research on aging, comparative concepts of time deserve the same status as metric concepts. Secondly, it is emphasized that human aging takes place within human time, with a present, past and future. This sense of a longitudinal present is missing in chronological time but eminently elaborated in narrative action. Narratives also shed some light on the concept of (the aging) personal identity and cultural images of aging.