Abstract* Frailty, sarcopenia, and falls are commonly framed as individual deficits requiring corrective, behaviour focused interventions. This conceptual paper argues that such deficit orientation is not merely clinical but socially produced through professional socialisation, organisational routines, and reimbursement structures. Drawing on a Marxist informed political economy of health, we conceptualise late life vulnerability as an outcome of material living conditions and cumulative social disadvantage rather than intrinsic bodily decline alone. While biomedical evidence on training, screening, and multifactorial fall prevention remains important, its impact is limited when structural determinants go unaddressed. We advance a resource-oriented reframing grounded in Healthy Ageing and Intrinsic Capacity, emphasising enabling environments, participation, and contextual determinants. The paper outlines implications for practice, education, research, and policy, showing how these domains structure the possibilities for ageing well. “Integrating political economic critique with geriatric evidence, this analysis contributes to medical sociology by revealing how social conditions shape professional effectiveness and why reframing late life vulnerability is vital for addressing unequal ageing trajectories.
Rogan et al. (2026) studied this question.