The societal norms of ageing and old age are changing in society today, due to
demographic changes that favour a pedagogicalization of society, focusing on the management of human resources throughout the entire lifespan. The discourse on active ageing mot only reveals ‘better’ ways of ageing but it also raises questions as to what constitutes a ‘good’ and ‘active’ life in all societies. The conflicting aspect of the discursive battlefield on active ageing constitutes a fight for authority: Who has the ‘right’ to define the meaning of being ‘active’ and how can ‘activity’ be identified? ‘Active’ is to be understood according to the interpretations available in different knowledge perspectives in order to discipline the future knowledge production of ageing and control the processes of subjectification in later life as the disciplining of ‘Population Ageing’: Becoming a subject to active ageing. Dominant discourses on ‘active ageing’ are challenged by the focus of museums and archives on using heritage and participatory arts as an arena to performAGE in later life by craving creativity as a notion of age and opportunity.