Non-fiction: The Coming of Age

Overview

Simone de Beauvoir's La Vieillesse, published in 1970 and commonly known in English as The Coming of Age, offers an expansive philosophical and sociological examination of aging. It treats old age not as an inevitable natural fate alone, but as a condition shaped by cultural narratives, legal structures, economic arrangements, and interpersonal relations. Beauvoir blends historical survey, literary analysis, social statistics, and existential reflection to show how modern societies produce both the experience and the marginalization of the elderly.
The book insists that aging is a human problem as much political as personal. By tracing attitudes toward the aged across eras and institutions, Beauvoir reveals patterns of neglect, pity, fear, and disavowal that strip the elderly of agency and visibility. Her voice combines moral urgency with encyclopedic range: she names abuses, identifies systemic causes, and argues for social reforms that preserve dignity and autonomy.

Central Themes

A principal theme is the social construction of old age. Beauvoir argues that bodily decline acquires its social sting through myths and practices that equate value with productivity, beauty, and youth. When societies pivot on these criteria, the aged are cast as superfluous or as objects of nostalgia rather than subjects with present needs and freedoms. That cultural framing fosters isolation, infantilization, and institutionalization.
Closely connected is the theme of dependence versus freedom. Drawing on existentialist ideas, Beauvoir maintains that human freedom is threatened when dependence becomes social death. Loss of economic standing, legal power, and sexual recognition not only diminishes practical choices but corrodes the sense of self. She also highlights gendered differences: women frequently suffer compounded harms because of social expectations tied to appearance, marriage, and economic vulnerability.

Method and Structure

Beauvoir assembles a vast array of sources: philosophical texts, religious doctrines, literary depictions, legal codes, psychiatric writings, and demographic data. The book moves from historical genealogy to contemporary diagnosis, combining anecdote and statistical observation. This methodological breadth produces a panoramic diagnosis rather than a narrow empirical study.
The narrative alternates analytic chapters with concrete descriptions of institutions such as retirement homes, hospitals, and family structures. Personal stories and case studies appear alongside critiques of policy, creating a texture that is at once intellectual and humane. That scope makes the work more of a cultural critique and manifesto than a formal sociological survey.

Ethical and Political Arguments

Beauvoir urges a reordering of social priorities to guarantee the elderly economic security, accessible healthcare, meaningful social roles, and respect for sexual and emotional life. She calls for retirement systems and living arrangements that avoid the abrupt devaluation of older people, for legal measures that protect autonomy, and for cultural shifts that resist demonizing or glorifying age in simplistic ways.
Her ethical stance insists that justice demands treating aging individuals as full subjects rather than passive recipients of charity. Policies should aim to preserve choice, community ties, and opportunities for engagement. By reframing aging as a shared social responsibility, Beauvoir links personal dignity to institutional reform.

Reception and Legacy

The book met both praise and critique. Admirers lauded its moral clarity, ambition, and the urgency of its social critique. Critics pointed to its uneven empirical grounding and occasional sweeping generalizations, and some argued that its encyclopedic breadth sometimes sacrificed depth in particular areas. Feminist and gerontological scholars, however, have continued to draw on its insights about gender, embodiment, and social invisibility.
The Coming of Age remains a foundational text for debates about ageism, care policy, and the ethics of old age. Its insistence that aging deserves political as well as personal attention helped shift public conversation toward rights, dignity, and institutional responsibility for later life.