Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of Jyväskylä, Finland; Research Institute of Human Development, Kyoto International Social Welfare Exchange Centre, Japan.
J Aging Stud. 2022 Sep;62:101062. doi: 10.1016/j.jaging.2022.101062. Epub 2022 Aug 12.
This article explores media portrayals of the transition from work to retirement under the circumstances of demographic change through a focus on newspaper discussions about ageing baby boomers in Japan and Finland. Due to their shared characteristics as a distinct population group that advances the rapid ageing of the population, media representations of Japanese and Finnish baby boomers during the transitional period to retirement give insight into the social perceptions of retirement and their implications on later life. Manifest content analysis and subsequent thematic analysis identify that the topic of "work, retirement and pension" dominates media discussions in both countries. Analysis also conveys that this topic involves specific themes on three levels: macro level, attitudinal level and behavioural level regarding working, subjective and social perceptions of retirement. Social and cultural differences between Japan and Finland are well accounted for in shaping each theme, which is characterised by even contrasting expressions regarding the extension of working life and attitudes toward work and retirement. However, deeper analysis suggests that the idea that values an active, productive and engaged lifestyle beyond retirement underlies both Japanese and Finnish media discourses. Media discussions in both countries risk creating a discriminatory dichotomy among older people: the Finnish media marginalises those who are out of work and without work-like activities, while the Japanese media tend to exclude those without socially desirable competence.
本文通过聚焦报纸对日本和芬兰步入退休期的“婴儿潮一代”的讨论，探讨了人口结构变化背景下媒体对工作向退休过渡的呈现。由于日本和芬兰的“婴儿潮一代”作为人口快速老龄化的特定群体，具有共同特征，因此他们在向退休过渡时期的媒体形象为我们深入了解退休的社会观念及其对晚年生活的影响提供了线索。显在内容分析和随后的主题分析表明，“工作、退休和养老金”是这两个国家媒体讨论的主题。分析还表明，该主题涉及三个层面的具体主题：关于工作、对退休的主观和社会看法的宏观层面、态度层面和行为层面。日本和芬兰之间的社会和文化差异在塑造每个主题方面都得到了充分体现，这些主题在延长工作寿命和对工作与退休的态度方面表现出截然不同的观点。然而，更深入的分析表明，超越退休后积极、富有成效和参与式生活方式的价值观是日本和芬兰媒体话语的基础。这两个国家的媒体讨论都存在将老年人划分为不同群体的风险：芬兰媒体边缘化了那些没有工作和没有类似工作活动的人，而日本媒体则倾向于排斥那些没有社会所需能力的人。
