Authoring aging: Personal and social constructions

Phillipson, Chris

doi:10.1016/j.jaging.2007.12.007

Cited by 10 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Condeluci is mostly concerned with people with disabilities. It would be interesting to expand his perspective to incorporate the role of the state (Fine and Glendinning 2005), and to apply it to older adults living alone in the tradition of an ‘emancipatory gerontology’ which identifies issues of social transformation at the core of its work (Phillipson 2008: 168).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The myth of independence for older Americans living alone in the Bay Area of San Francisco: a critical reflection

Portacolone

2011

Ageing and Society

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Remaining at home in older age is generally considered a sign of independence and therefore an important achievement. More than five million Americans aged over 75 years live alone, a number that is destined to increase thanks to advances in longevity. Living alone can allow the expression of one's preferences, but it can also bring out hardships hardly visible to outsiders, especially in an individualistic society such as the United States of America that rewards self-sufficiency. According to the sociologist Rose, in neo-liberal societies citizens have a duty to be free, self-reliant and independent. In this paper, Rose's theory and the political economy perspective serve as frameworks by which to examine how discourses around independence are translated in the experiences of 22 older adults aged over 75 living at home alone in the Bay Area of San Francisco. Participant observation and 41 in-depth interviews from 2006 to 2010 illustrate how being independent can be an essential component of individual identities. The informants' narratives shed light on the impact of policies that facilitate or regulate the moral imperative of independence. The findings underline the need to assess how discourses around independence are translated in minority populations, to promote studies and initiatives on interdependence, and to encourage international comparisons on living alone in older age.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The myth of independence for older Americans living alone in the Bay Area of San Francisco: a critical reflection

Portacolone

2011

Ageing and Society

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“…In addition, this study may contribute to a critical social gerontology, which challenges the traditional image of a normative and homogeneous ageing process ( see e.g. Phillipson 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Lived experiences of ageing and later life in older people with intellectual disabilities

et al. 2013

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The aim of this article is to explore how older people with intellectual disability (ID), who live in group accommodation, describe their lived experience in relation to ageing and later life. The article is based on a study with a phenomenological approach, grounded on the concept of life-world. Individual, qualitative interviews were conducted with  people with ID (five men, seven women), between the ages of  and  (mean = ), who lived in four different group accommodation units in southern Sweden. A descriptive phenomenological analysis method was used, which disclosed a structure consisting of themes and sub-themes. The findings of the study reveal the informants' lived experience of ageing and later life as a multifaceted phenomenon, expressed through the two themes, 'age as a process of change' and 'existential aspects of ageing', each with three sub-themes. The body is an essential element in their experience of ageing and growing old, and in how this experience is expressed. The study also found social, cultural and historical dimensions of the lifeworld to be important in the informants' experience of ageing and later life. This supports understanding of the existence of a collective life-world for older people with ID, the unique experiences the informants share because of their disability and its consequences for their lifecourse.

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“…The body has come to be seen as a passive receptor of age, sometimes alongside class, gender and disability. Even though some of those who earlier espoused a political economy of old age, have shifted their ground to embrace what they describe as a critical gerontological perspective, uniting political economy with biographical approaches, and arguments which focus on social, historical and cultural change (Phillipson and Biggs 1998: 12, Phillipson 2008), the body still remains out of engagement. Though arguing that social constructionism approaches risk ‘… ignoring both structural inequalities and the threats to identity posed by an uncertain social environment’ (Phillipson and Biggs 1998: 20), the bodily experience of ageing is not presented as a contributory factor, even when informed by biography.…”

Section: Ageing and The Body In Social Gerontologymentioning

confidence: 99%

The co‐marking of aged bodies and migrant bodies: migrant workers’ contribution to geriatric medicine in the UK

Raghuram

Bornat

Henry

2011

Sociology Health & Illness

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This article sits at the nexus between two bodies of work, gerontology and migration research, both of which have theorised the body as the locus of stigma. Gerontologists, while acknowledging the significance of perceptions of the ageing body for engagement and participation in society, have often evaded direct engagement with physical and medical understandings of older bodies. In parallel, research which focuses on migration, race and the body has focused on how the migrant body is stigmatised both because of its somatic markers and because of the status of the frail older people whom they tend. Drawing on oral history interviews with UK born and South Asian overseas-trained geriatricians, the article argues that the two bodies, which are usually seen in negative ways, came together in meaningful ways in the development of the specialty of geriatric medicine. Thinking of the body as an assemblage with many elements, some of which are stigmatised but which can nevertheless be recuperated, helps us to think beyond stigma in the context of body work.

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Authoring aging: Personal and social constructions

Cited by 10 publications

References 7 publications

The myth of independence for older Americans living alone in the Bay Area of San Francisco: a critical reflection

The myth of independence for older Americans living alone in the Bay Area of San Francisco: a critical reflection

Lived experiences of ageing and later life in older people with intellectual disabilities

The co‐marking of aged bodies and migrant bodies: migrant workers’ contribution to geriatric medicine in the UK

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