Chronological Time and Chronological Age: Problems of Temporal Diversity

It is the aim of this volume to revitalize the debate about the concepts of time implicit in the study of aging. A potentially interested but already overburdened reader may wonder whether one needs or whether there is a need for such a book. Time seems such an ordinary unproblematic topic that a work devoted to it might appear to be a digression from many pressing problems of aging. Indeed, aging can lead to many problems that must be taken care of. This has put an enormous pressure on the gerontological community to provide or seek practical applications and solutions. It is not important to read this book so as to counterbalance such practically oriented work. Its importance is the exploration of real issues concerning temporal concepts and approaches to aging: whatever concepts of time are used determine to a large extent the way aging is approached. There is a seemingly self-evident time that we read on clocks and calendars and use to determine the ages of cars, buildings and (why not?) human beings. This chronological time serves many purposes well but is actually quite problematic when it comes to aging, especially when it gets more credit than it deserves. That aging is poorly indicated by higher chronological ages may often be admitted, but this does not appear to lead to much change in research practices. The vast majority of studies of aging still use a chronological approach to define populations for research purposes (determine who the “aged” are that should be studied) and try to establish how (social, economic, health, etc.) characteristics of people change as a function of their chronological age. This may lead to an accumulation of data, but in itself not to explanatory knowledge.