Leisure in old age: disciplinary practices surrounding the discourse of active ageing

Abstract

In the 1990s, the World Health Organization adopted the term ''active ageing'', which currently represents a key vision of old age in Western societies facing the situation of demographic ageing. The meaning of the idea of active ageing is based on the concept of individuals actively and systematically influencing the conditions of their ageing through selfresponsibility and self-care. The aim of this article is to map how the idea of active ageing is constructed and the implications it presents with regard to the way in which seniors relate to their experience of old age. It concentrates on a specific segment of senior-oriented social services (centres for seniors that offer leisure time activities and educational courses) that represent an institutional context for the manifestation of the discourse of active ageing. A three-year ethnographic study was conducted in two such centres in the Czech Republic. The article focuses on various strategies for the disciplining of the ageing body. It points out that these disciplinary practices are an integral part of the daily running of the centres and that the seniors who intensively engage in them have internalised the idea of an active lifestyle as the most desirable lifestyle in old age. Active ageing was constructed by them as a project that must be

From Active Aging to Active Citizenship: The Role of (Age) Friendliness

“…First, while contributing to theoretical debates about Active Aging, more empirical evidence is needed in terms of understanding the processes that contribute to promoting active citizenship through Age-Friendly programmes. Second, it should also be noted that the AFCC project can be criticized for the same reasons as the concept of Active Aging (Biggs 2001;Bowling 2005;Hasmanová 2011), since in many cases it does not include diversity, fragility, and excluded groups of aging populations (Buffel and Phillipson 2018a). Thus, the goal of generating active citizenship similarly runs the risk of further empowering a more resourceful "elite" of older people, whilst adding to the exclusion of those that are already disadvantaged.…”

“…The first and the most dominant perspective emphasize the productivity approach, focusing almost entirely on employment policies and labor market involvement after retirement age (EC 1999). The second discourse also defends the contribution to society through unpaid work, such as volunteering or the transmission of knowledge to other generations, as well as living autonomously and with dignity for as long as possible (Foster and Walker 2015;Hasmanová 2011).…”

“…In contrast, those categorised as 'non active' remain stigmatized (Venn and Arber 2011;Williams et al 2012). Another source of critical thinking is that the lifestyle promoted in the current discourse of Active Aging is easy to be followed by people who can pay for it, who have the physical or mental ability, and who can participate in the institutions where it is promoted (Biggs 2001;Bowling 2005;Hasmanová 2011). In this way, the Active Aging paradigm is becoming coercive, since the social images promoted are being interiorized by older people (Foster and Walker 2015;Katz 2000;Townsend et al 2006) with high expectations being placed up on them (Boudiny 2013).…”

“…Those expectations can be assumed as a challenge or a threat depending on personal circumstances in terms of health, educational level, or income (Pavlova and Silbereisen 2012). In addition, this paradigm is not prepared to incorporate the notion of decline (Foster and Walker 2015;Moulaert and Paris 2013) and it ignores the barriers of certain social groups to meet the ideals of old age (Hasmanová 2011).…”

Old people, video games and french press: A topic model approach on a study about discipline, entertainment and self-improvement.

“…In an ethnography of several Czech senior centres, J. H. Marhánková fi nds that both older adults and caretakers rely on that discourse, framing ageing as a project and activity as a moral imperative (Marhánková, 2011(Marhánková, , 2014. Th e discourse of successful ageing has an ambiguous appeal insofar as it is simultaneously liberating and constraining.…”