Theambitionofageingsciencetodiscoverthegoldenfleeceoflongevityandhealthiscloselyconnectedtotheconceptof’successfulageing’.Still,foralargeportionofthepopulation,frailtyandcognitiveimpairmentistherealityofageing,anditisbynomeanscertainifhealthpromotion,preventionandotherinterventionswillreducetheprobabilityofitsoccurrence.Thisbookarguesthatanarrowunderstandingof’successfulageing’asgoodhealth,fullfunctioning,andactiveparticipationinsocietyexcludesalargeportionofageingindividualsfromthequestforagoodlifeinoldage.Thechallengeisthattheterm’successfulageing’comeswithambitionsbutalsowithambivalence.Ontheonehand,itcounteractsthedeficitviewofageingandfacilitatesvisionarythinkingonwhatmightbepossibleinthefuture.Ontheotherhand,itsimplicitlyageistandderogativefeatureshavenegativeconsequencestoolderpeopleandsocietyatlarge.So,whatissuccessfulageing?Weprovideanswersatthreelevels:First,wesynthesisethevariousmodelsusedtodefinesuccessfulageingintoaheuristicschemeabletounravelthenormativecomplexityanddifferencesinherentinexistingmodels.Second,weanchorsuccessfulageingmodelsinatripartitewayatmicro(individual),meso,andmacroanalyticlevelsofhumandevelopment.Third,wearguethattheusefulnessofsuccessfulageinginguidingpolicywillonlyprofitfromtheconcept,ifitfollowsapluralisticandholisticviewwithouthastilydecidingforonemodelonly.
