Smith Gabriella V, Ekerdt David J
Department of Sociology and Gerontology Center, University of Kansas, 1000 Sunnyside Ave, Room 3090, Lawrence, KS 66045, Phone (785) 864-0688; fax (785) 864-2666.
Sociol Inq. 2011 Aug 1;81(3):377-391. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-682X.2011.00378.x.
We adapt a metaphor from life course studies to designate the whole of one's possessions, across time, as a convoy of material support. This dynamic collection of things supports daily life and the self, but it can also present difficulty in later life. To alleviate the purported burdens of the material convoy, a discourse has arisen that urges elders and their family members to reduce the volume of possessions. An analysis of 11 such possession management texts shows authors addressing two distinct audiences about elders' need to downsize: family members and elders themselves. Authors who speak to family members do so with an urgent, unsentimental tone that echoes mainstream clutter-control advice about disorderly, overfull households. In texts for elders, the standard critique about consumption and unruly lives is gentler, more sensitive to the meaning of things, and underplays the emotions of divestment. There is stress on the responsibility to spare the next generation and control one's legacy. These latter texts seem to respect that downsizing in later life symbolizes a narrowing of the life world.
我们借鉴生命历程研究中的一个隐喻，将一个人一生中拥有的所有财产称为物质支持的护航队。这个动态的物品集合支撑着日常生活和自我，但在晚年也可能带来困难。为了减轻物质护航队所谓的负担，出现了一种话语，敦促老年人及其家庭成员减少财产数量。对11篇此类财产管理文本的分析表明，作者针对两个不同的受众群体探讨了老年人精简生活的必要性：家庭成员和老年人自己。与家庭成员交流的作者语气急切、不带感情，这与关于杂乱、物品过多家庭的主流杂物清理建议相呼应。在面向老年人的文本中，对消费和不羁生活的标准批评更为温和，对物品的意义更为敏感，且淡化了剥离财产时的情感。强调了为下一代着想和掌控自己遗产的责任。后一类文本似乎尊重这样一种观点，即晚年精简生活象征着生活世界的缩小。
