Gero-transcendence: a reformulation of the disengagement theory

Abstract

This article offers a meta-theoretical reformulation of the disengagement theory. It is argued that what social gerontologists describe in negative terms and label "disengagement" is in reality often a positive development towards gero-transcendence. This latter can be described as a shift in meta-perspective from a materialistic and rational view to a more cosmic and transcendent one, normally followed by an increase in life satisfaction. To understand the nature of gero-transcendence gerontologists have to make a meta-theoretical shift from a traditional positivist view to a view where disengagement is phenomenologically comprehended. As the article includes some criticism of interactionist-based social gerontology, it should be mentioned that the author himself has been and is working within this theoretical tradition. The article is as much self-criticism as anything else.