In imagining how their lives might turn out, 100 young New Zealanders aged between 16 and 18 years wrote descriptions of their future lifecourse. Their descriptions of themselves at the nominal age of 80 years form the basis of the research reported in this paper. For these young people, ageing and old age are understood as accomplishments in the context of an imagined lifecourse. They see personal ageing as shaped by a common temporal ordering of life events that ensures material security, financial success, and an enduring intimate relationship. In imagining themselves aged 80 years, three key themes that constitute a discourse of ' accomplished ageing ' were identified : the experience of old age would be contingent on achievements throughout the lifecourse ; old age would be a time for harvest ; and while people may look old they can continue to 'be ' young. Although their images of bodily appearance included some negative stereotypes of old age, appearance and bodily function were understood as amenable to life-long self-management. The young people imagined themselves as life-long active agents, and framed a positive image and homogeneous social identity for older people. The ' accomplished ageing ' discourse has implications for how ageing is understood by young people. In particular, the social identity that accomplished ageing implies may shape how they relate to those who do not accomplish ageing in the imagined optimistic and homogeneous way.KEY WORDS -imagined futures, young people, lifecourse, accomplished ageing.
This article analyzes how 100 young New Zealanders (aged 16 to 18 years) imagined their futures, and particularly their future family life. In their written accounts imagining themselves aged 25 to 40 years, the participants drew upon dominant parenting norms in which contemporary gender beliefs positioning men and women as separate and discrete categories of people were implicit. Parenting was typically positioned as concrete and compulsory by young women and as abstract and complementary by young men. Conversely, paid work as abstract, contingent and amenable to interruption was imagined by young women; and as continuous and compulsory by young men. Given these findings we argue young New Zealanders ‘do gender’ in the social relational contexts of future family life and paid work. These findings are situated by the historical antecedents of New Zealand’s current modernized male-breadwinner family ideal, and recent ‘family-friendly’ policies designed to encourage mothers into paid work.
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