Everyday discrimination in the neighbourhood: what a ‘doing’ perspective on age and ethnicity can offer

Abstract

Despite the fact that urbanisation, population ageing and international migration constitute major societal developments of our time, little attention has been paid to studying them together in a comprehensive manner. In this paper, we argue that, when treating age and ethnicity as practical processes for addressing and identifying with social groups, it is necessary to do so from a ‘doing’ perspective. The question we ask focuses on which social memberships are made relevant or irrelevant in residential environments and how that relevance or irrelevance is established. Drawing upon a quantitative study among individuals of Turkish migrant origin living in Vienna, Austria, we find that it is rather common for the respondents to have been assigned to multiple intersecting social groups and that they were treated unfairly in their own neighbourhoods. However, such ascriptions do not necessarily correspond to objective categorisations of research or subjective identifications. Hence, the discrimination that is present in a neighbourhood does not necessarily lead to decreased place attachment or a diminishing sense of home. In fact, we find that the ‘satisfaction paradox’ is quite common in environmental gerontology and that it may actually intersect with the ‘immigration paradox’. Applying processual intersectionality is not only fruitful for research, it can also improve the conceptualisation of age-friendly cities.

Latent variable and clustering methods in intersectionality research: systematic review of methods applications

“…Regression mediation analysis to examine the mediating role of discrimination on the association between cluster membership and the outcomes—well-being, depression and grade point average. Wanka et al, 2019 [ 42 ] 400 Turkish adults 4 continuous variables. Neighborhood discrimination due to: Ethnic origin; Age; Religion; Gender.…”

“…Many papers in the first group of studies sought to create classes/clusters based on stigma, discrimination, or victimization in ways that traversed different social positions (e.g., by combining measures such as homophobia and racism) [ 36 , 39 , 40 , 42 , 44 ]. This use harkens back to Berger’s foundational work on intersectional stigma, wherein she notes it is composed of influences that can be tied to specific social positions, but which in totality create qualitatively different forms of intersectional stigma [ 10 ].…”

“…These approaches comprised two groups based on objectives for implementing latent variable or clustering methods, the first creating intersectional classes/clusters reflecting stigma or social processes, and the second reflecting classes/clusters of social identities/positions. Many papers in the first group of studies sought to create classes/clusters based on stigma, discrimination, or victimization in ways that traversed different social positions (e.g., by combining measures such as homophobia and racism) [36,39,40,42,44]. This use harkens back to Berger's foundational work on intersectional stigma, wherein she notes it is composed of influences that can be tied to specific social positions, but which in totality create qualitatively different forms of intersectional stigma [10].…”

Benches as Materialisations of (Active) Ageing in Public Space: First Steps towards a Praxeology of Space

“…This reflexive article is based upon longstanding observation of AFCC development in various parts of the world, including "champions" like the Quebec case, New York, or Manchester (Moulaert & Garon, 2016); as researchers, we also participate in projects inspired by, and developed around, AFCC in Belgium (Houioux & Moulaert, 2017) and Austria (Wanka et al, 2018). Regarding these experiences, we both notice a distinction between discourse and practices promoted; we also both notice, in terms of urban planning, (typically, the WHO refers to three domains for "physical environments": the built environment, transport, and housing) that benches have been regularly mentioned to illustrate action through "built environment" next to pavement attention or pedestrian crossing (WHO, 2007b).…”

“…It, therefore, appears that "public benches" could be considered as a good socio-material disposal, a great "assemblage of human and non-human", assemblage being referred to by Deleuze and Guattari and to the Actor-Network Theory (ANT) as "a mode of ordering heterogeneous entities so that they work together for a certain time". (Müller, 2015, p.28) To unfold such "assemblage", we propose a theoretical model of "ageing in public space" inspired by the three dimensions model of space by Lefebvre (Lefebvre, 1991) and by a "doing" perspective on ageing (Wanka et al, 2018). Such a model has already been tested (Moulaert, Wanka, & Drilling, 2018) to discuss the level of internationalisation of the general framework of ageing and social exclusion (Walsh, Scharf, & Keating, 2017) and to propose a theoretical advance in "environmental gerontology" from "environmental press to spatial expulsion" (Wanka, Moulaert, & Drilling, 2019).…”