Introduction

Human Longevity, Utopia, and Solidarity

Bibliographic Data

ID18951302
AuthorsAlex Dumas (0000-0001-8919-5235, University of Ottawa, corresponding author), B Turner (0000-0001-6378-7144, City University of New York), Bryan S Turner (City University of New York Australian Catholic University)
Year2015
Volume56
Issue1
Pages1-17
Publication date2015-02-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociological Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0038-0253 • E-ISSN: 1533-8525
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/tsq.12081
OpenAlexW1523817198
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited29

Biomedical and geriatric technologies are having major impacts on the development and management of human longevity. Our contention in this special issue is that longevity should be considered as a point of departure for new forms of politics in which social sciences, in particular sociology and politics, can play an important role. In this introduction, we argue that emerging consumer markets in biomedicine are incrementally redefining the relationship between old age and society. Techno-economic transformations are creating new sites of vulnerability that are masked by medical utopias of good health and “living forever.” In this context, it is unlikely that such technologies will be able to overcome inequalities in distribution and may well exacerbate various forms of injustice. By drawing on notions of institutional precariousness and scarcity, we conclude that to maintain any degree of social solidarity, increasing longevity will force the emergence of a “sociology of limits.”

Aesthetics · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Longevity · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Solidarity · Utopia · Global Healthcare and Medical Tourism · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving · Law · Medicine · Migration, Aging, and Tourism Studies · Philosophy · Gerontology

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