Stories of contemporary aging: An analysis of “lived” citizenship in later life

ABSTRACT

The new political economy of aging portrays “active citizenship” among seniors as a key challenge for the years to come. As a policy framework, Active Aging ranks high on the agendas of most supranational bodies. Informed by discourse analysis and a narrative approach, this article focuses on, first, older women’s everyday “active” practices, their meaning, and purpose and second, their day-to-day practical citizenship and social engagement experiences. A typology consisting of four figures of “lived” citizenship is proposed. Social contribution in later age is expressed through various types of engagement identified through these citizenship figures. These figures support older women’s social anchoring and sustain their feeling of belonging to the community. However, the figures outlined also reveal tensions, produced by relations of power between “dominant citizenship” and “relational citizenship,” pertaining to social relations and to caring for the other. In the latter case, we see that the coupling of action between the choice of action and social engagements in later age is more limited, due to social and health inequalities as well as lack of opportunities throughout the life course. Finally, in order to guarantee the right to age with dignity, we suggest a change of orientation in aging policies.

KEYWORDS:

• Older women
• citizenship
• engagement
• active aging
• participation

Notes

¹ https://www.un.org/development/desa/ageing/resources/international-year-of-older-persons-1999/principles.html.

² Presenting an inventory and content analysis of definitions of social participations in older adults in gerontology, Levasseur et al. (2010) propose a « taxonomy of social activities based 1) levels of involvement of the individual with others, and 2) goals of these activities » (p.2146).

³ This research has received an ethic certification (CERFAS-2013–14-062-D).

⁴ “Republican citizenship generally focuses on the citizen’s participation in the affairs of his or her community, and the expectation that the individual will be committed to acknowledging and promoting the well-being of the community as a whole” (Johansson & Hvinden: 50–51) .

⁵ “In a Libertarian sense, the relationship between state and individual is conceived more narrowly, with the emphasis the self-responsibility and autonomy of the individual”(Ibid: 50).

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Canada.