Gopinath Manik
School of Health, Wellbeing and Social Care, Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK.
Ageing Int. 2018;43(2):254-264. doi: 10.1007/s12126-018-9323-0. Epub 2018 Feb 15.
A major criticism of mainstream gerontological frameworks is the inability of such frameworks to appreciate and incorporate issues of diversity and difference in engaging with experiences of aging. Given the prevailing socially structured nature of inequalities, such differences matter greatly in shaping experiences, as well as social constructions, of aging. I argue that Amartya Sen's capability approach (2009) potentially offers gerontological scholars a broad conceptual framework that places at its core consideration of human beings (their values) and centrality of human diversity. As well as identifying these key features of the capability approach, I discuss and demonstrate their relevance to thinking about old age and aging. I maintain that in the context of complex and emerging identities in later life that shape and are shaped by shifting people-place and people-people relationships, Sen's capability approach offers significant possibilities for gerontological research.
对主流老年学框架的一个主要批评是，这些框架无法认识到并纳入在探讨衰老经历时的多样性和差异问题。鉴于不平等现象普遍具有社会结构化的性质，这种差异在塑造衰老经历以及衰老的社会建构方面至关重要。我认为，阿玛蒂亚·森的能力方法（2009年）有可能为老年学学者提供一个广泛的概念框架，该框架将对人类（他们的价值观）的考量及其核心地位以及人类多样性置于核心位置。除了确定能力方法的这些关键特征外，我还讨论并展示了它们与思考老年和衰老的相关性。我坚持认为，在晚年复杂且不断涌现的身份背景下，这些身份既塑造了人们与地点以及人与人之间不断变化的关系，同时也受到这些关系的塑造，森的能力方法为老年学研究提供了重要的可能性。
