Chasing Independence: Growing Old in the Shadow of an American Ideal

How independence works as an unquestioned ideal for aging in America-and why it is never quite realizedIn twenty-first century America, as people live longer than ever before, it’s taken for granted that older adults should be active and self-reliant.News stories describe nonagenarians who run marathons, reality shows feature attractive older women competing for the love of a widowed bachelor, and policymakers encourage “aging in place” (rather in a nursing home).In Chasing Independence, Guillermina Altomonte turns a critical eye on these expectations and asks what happens when independence becomes the yardstick by which we measure the quality of old age.Drawing on ethnographic observations in a skilled nursing facility in New York City, interviews with older adults and healthcare workers, and historical materials, she shows how independence operates as an unquestioned standard for medical assessments, allocation of services, and even as a way to determine an older person’s identity an