Local Environments and Activity in Later Life: Meaningful Experiences in Green and Blue Spaces

Bell, Sarah; Wheeler, Benedict W.

doi:10.1007/978-1-137-42932-2_16

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 17 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Retirement may have positive impacts, however. The end of paid employment can allow more time to engage in family commitments (Hochman and Lewin-Epstein, 2013) and long-standing or new interests; some older adults may view retirement as a period of ‘flowering’, with time to explore new things, and take up new challenges (Bell and Wheeler, 2015; Cox, 2015). Negative aspects can include reduced income (Vickerstaff and Cox, 2005) and decline in health and mobility (Bell and Wheeler, 2015; Gilroy, 2008).…”

Section: Findings and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The end of paid employment can allow more time to engage in family commitments (Hochman and Lewin-Epstein, 2013) and long-standing or new interests; some older adults may view retirement as a period of ‘flowering’, with time to explore new things, and take up new challenges (Bell and Wheeler, 2015; Cox, 2015). Negative aspects can include reduced income (Vickerstaff and Cox, 2005) and decline in health and mobility (Bell and Wheeler, 2015; Gilroy, 2008). Here, we analyse experiences relating to loss of and/or challenges to occupational, personal, and social identities (see also Allen-Collinson, 2003, 2004; Allen-Collinson and Hockey, 2007) particularly collective military identity.…”

Section: Findings and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

‘You’re Just Chopped Off at the End’: Retired Servicemen’s Identity Work Struggles in the Military to Civilian Transition

Williams

Allen‐Collinson

Hockey

et al. 2018

Sociological Research Online

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Promoting positive transition to retirement and cultural adaption for ex-service personnel has been identified as a priority for both social-science research and for public health policy in the UK. The Royal British Legion aims to provide support to service and retired service personnel, but to date the transition to retirement experiences of older (60-plus) ex-service personnel remain under-researched. In this article, we employ a symbolic interactionist theoretical framework to examine older servicemen’s experiences and identity challenges post-retirement from the British armed forces. Data were collected primarily through semi-structured, focus-group interviews with 20 former servicemen. Here, we focus specifically upon the challenges encountered by these ex-servicemen in the retirement transition from military to civilian life, a time of identity flux of sociological interest. To navigate this period of identity change and challenge, many participants constructed a ‘modified military self’ through involvement with the Royal British Legion as a key social support network. For many retired personnel the Royal British Legion offered a form of identification and group identity that resonated strongly with earlier experiences of comradeship in the military.

show abstract

Section: Findings and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Findings and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘You’re Just Chopped Off at the End’: Retired Servicemen’s Identity Work Struggles in the Military to Civilian Transition

Williams

Allen‐Collinson

Hockey

et al. 2018

Sociological Research Online

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, in this project involving long boarders, short boarder and SUP riders, almost all these mid-life and older surfers emphasised this spiritual relationship with the activity and their environment. Surfing participation was part of a broader lifestyle, avoiding the urban rat race, getting ‘back to nature’ and for some valuing less materialistic values (see also Bell and Wheeler, 2015). Jenny had grown up on the beach, but spent most of her adult life in cities.…”

Section: Discussion: Older Surfers Embracing Different Ways Of Being mentioning

confidence: 99%

Staying ‘stoked’: Surfing, ageing and post-youth identities

Wheaton

2017

International Review for the Sociology of Sport

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Surfing has consistently been framed as a youth focused, male-dominated sport and culture. Despite surfing’s ageing demographic, neither the ways in which age impacts on surfing identities and mobilities, nor older surfer’s experiences and subjectivities, has been given scholarly attention. In this paper, I discuss research exploring the experiences and identities of middle-aged and older recreational male and female surfers in the south and south-west of England. The research illustrates that participation in surfing as a sport and lifestyle remains highly significant for some men and women through middle-age and into retirement. I consider the cultural barriers and challenges in dealing with a loss in physical performance through ageing, such as adaptations to their equipment, performance, and style, and the implications for how individuals negotiate bodily capital, space and identity. Nonetheless, older surfers also embrace different ways of being a surfer which challenge some of the more exclusionary aspects of surfing identities. Theoretically the paper develops an intersectional approach to sporting identity that explicitly recognises and accounts for the contribution of age to social identity. The research also contributes to the growing literature on physically active ‘post-youth’ leisure lifestyles, illustrating how shifting definitions of ageing have given ‘rise to new expectations, priorities and understandings’ of sporting lifestyles amongst those in middle age, and beyond.

show abstract

“…In symbolic interactionist terms, there appears to be a poignant contrast between Mathew's 'remembered' 'glorified, self' and his current-day, less glorified self (Adler and Adler 1989;Allen-Collinson and Hockey 2001). He found his ability to be physically active significantly hindered by his physical environment (see Bell and Wheeler 2015). Mathew's concerns strongly underline that when conducting research with older adults there are many considerations in making data collection processes accessible for older and/or less mobile people.…”

Section: Maintaining An 'Ethic Of Care'mentioning

confidence: 99%