Population Health Sciences Institute, Newcastle University, Health Innovation Neighbourhood, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE4 5PL, UK.
Population Health Sciences Institute, Newcastle University, Health Innovation Neighbourhood, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE4 5PL, UK.
Soc Sci Med. 2024 Oct;358:117258. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117258. Epub 2024 Aug 17.
Supporting people to 'age in place' - to live independently at home and remain connected to the community - is an international policy priority. But the process of ageing in place is mediated in a socio-cultural context where neoliberal tropes of successful ageing reproduce a pervasive model about 'ageing well' by elevating ideals of individualised choice and self-governance. Based on two waves of qualitative interviews and interim observations, we employ a Bourdieusian logic to explore the ramifications of this context on the experiences of 46 people in later older age (80+) ageing in place in North East England. All participants enacted everyday improvisatory practices to render their homes habitable. But our participants - most of whom were located in middle-class social positions - supplemented such improvisions with a strategic disposition to plan for and actively shape their ageing-in-place futures. Our participants conveyed a distinct sense of agency over their ageing futures. Underpinning their orientations to practice was an awareness of the value attached to individually 'ageing well' and a distancing from the agedness associated with the fourth age. Our analysis demonstrates the role of capital, accrued throughout the life course, in bringing such future trajectories into effect. The central argument of this paper therefore is that the embodiment of (neoliberal) ideals of successful ageing in place requires the deployment of classed capital. In sum, contrary to the individualising narratives ubiquitous in policy pertaining to ageing well, we show the importance of classed structural moorings in this process.
支持人们“就地养老”——即独立在家生活并与社区保持联系——是国际政策重点。但是，就地养老的过程受到社会文化背景的影响，新自由主义关于成功老龄化的隐喻通过提升个性化选择和自我管理的理想，再现了一种普遍的“健康老龄化”模式。基于两轮定性访谈和中期观察，我们运用布迪厄的逻辑，探讨了这种背景对英格兰东北部 46 名 80 岁以上就地养老的老年人的经验的影响。所有参与者都采取了日常即兴实践来使他们的家适宜居住。但是，我们的参与者——其中大多数处于中产阶级社会地位——通过对未来进行规划和积极塑造的策略倾向，补充了这种即兴实践。我们的参与者对他们的老龄化未来表现出明显的掌控感。他们对实践的取向的基础是对个人“健康老龄化”的重视以及对与第四年龄相关的衰老的疏远。我们的分析表明，整个生命周期中积累的资本在实现这些未来轨迹方面发挥了作用。因此，本文的核心论点是，成功老龄化的（新自由主义）理念的体现需要部署阶级资本。总之，与普遍存在于与健康老龄化相关的政策中的个人主义叙事相反，我们展示了在这个过程中阶级结构根基的重要性。
