Elsevier

Geoforum

Volume 43, Issue 6, November 2012, Pages 1296-1305
Geoforum

“You have to engage with life, or life will go away”: An intersectional life course analysis of older women’s social participation in a disadvantaged urban area

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2012.03.013Get rights and content

Abstract

Social participation in later life has been studied as part of discourses around ‘active ageing’ but the promotion of participation in disadvantaged urban neighbourhoods meets with particular challenges. In this paper I argue that in order to effectively promote social participation in later life researchers and practitioners require an understanding of life-long relational practices which are embedded in social norms and places as they intersect with identities such as gender, class and age.

The intersectional life course analysis traces complex relationalities between people and place across the life course of two women living in disadvantaged urban areas. It shows the effects of societal and structural changes on individuals’ opportunities for social participation as well as demonstrating how age-related relational practices may lead to spatial segregation of older people in society.

Highlights

► Social participation is associated with successful or active ageing. ► Social participation is one aspect of the performance of social relationships. ► It is the outcome of complex intersecting relationalities of identity and place. ► A relational approach provides a basis for promoting participation in later life.

Introduction

Social participation in later life is often considered part of the ‘active ageing’ or ‘successful ageing’ discourses (Rowe and Kahn, 1997) and understood and measured either in relationship to health and well-being (Lennartson and Silverstein, 2001, Menec, 2003) or in terms of civic participation where older people may make a contribution to society through volunteering in their communities (Ahern and Hendryx, 2008; Hardill and Baines, 2009). Social participation (Sirven and Debrand, 2008; Levasseur et al., 2010), social engagement (Dupuis- Blanchard et al., 2009, Lamond et al., 2009) and social connectedness (Ashida and Heaney, 2008, Kohli et al., 2009, Stanley et al., 2010) have been constructs used interchangeably to investigate various aspects of individuals’ relationships and involvement with their socio-cultural, structural, political and physical environments (Leonard and Johanson, 2007, Hank and Erlinghagen, 2009, Mechakra-Tahiri et al., 2009, McDonald and Mair, 2010, Van Groenau and Deeg, 2010). Some of the components commonly measured include participation in formal activities such as volunteering or activism, participation in informal leisure activities or interest groups, involvement in religious organisations, the size of social networks, and other informal relationships with members of the community. Social participation declines with age (Bowling and Stafford, 2007), but researchers have found that nonetheless strong links exist between levels of social participation in the community and the self-rated health of older people (Sirven and Debrand, 2008).

In spite of accumulated evidence of the benefits of and obstacles to social participation as people grow older there has been little research which uses older people’s own perspectives (Bowling and Stafford, 2007) or which evaluates actual interventions to promote social participation (Son et al., 2010). Urban regeneration schemes, and health and social services have attempted to promote involvement of older people by providing opportunities for social participation with varying success (Cattan et al., 2005). This paper reports findings from a 3-year participatory action research project which aimed to promote and evaluate social participation among older people in a disadvantaged urban neighbourhood. The qualitative data analysis is based on the case study of two women’s narratives of social interaction in their urban environments across the life course. The geographical intersectional life course analysis enables an understanding of the complex patterns of continuity and change of individuals’ interactions with their social and physical environments over time and their impact on social relationships in later life.

Geographers increasingly interpret the world in terms of processes of change and flows rather than stability and rootedness (Thrift, 2009). In this, place is conceptualised as spatially located patterns of behaviour which is made up from flows and movements and intersecting social relations across space and over time. Doreen Massey for instance proposes an understanding of place as “constructed out of a particular constellation of social relations, meeting and weaving together at a particular locus” (1991, p. 154). Rather than conceptualising space in terms of a pre-existing and fixed vessel to be filled with people, actions and objects, relational geographers emphasise the contingent nature of place as continuously made and re-made through connectivities between performative embodied knowledges, people and objects (Thrift, 2000). For instance Rose’s (1999) unstable notion of space is understood in terms of iteratively performed relational practices which negotiate between self and other. In addition authors have emphasised the relationships between place and aspects of identity such as gender (Massey, 1994, Pain et al., 2000). Here places are “imagined as articulated moments in networks of social relations and understandings” (Massey, 1994, p. 154) which may also produce inequalities. McDowell warns that “it is important, however, not to be carried away by the fluidity of this new conceptualisation and representation of relational place, as customs and institutional structures clearly persist through time and ‘set’ places in time and space as it were” (1999, p. 5).

In this paper I wish to combine spatial and temporal aspects of relationalities to explore continuity and change in social participation among older people. Participants in this study experienced changes in neighbourhoods and social relationships, but at the same time remember a seemingly more stable time characterised by rigid class-based norms, expectations and institutions governing relational practices. For this cohort of women (now between 70 and 90 years old) social interaction was (and to an extent continues to be) ruled by working-class ethics and gendered social norms such as: cleanliness, neighbourliness, and a strong family unit (Roberts, 1984). I argue that for these reasons social interaction in later life is more fruitfully understood at the intersections of place, gender, class and age (Valentine, 2007, Pain and Hopkins, 2007). In this paper I aim to unpack spatially situated and identity based relational practices across the life course which constitute, sustain or inhibit social relationships and thus influence social participation in later life. I argue that social participation in later life has to be understood as part of a continuum of social interactions which are based on life-long spatially situated social relationships. It is only by conceptualising social participation as spatially and temporally embedded everyday relational practices that we can gain an understanding of the means for successfully promoting older people’s participation.

I initially review research evidence of the impact of social participation on older people’s well-being and quality of life. I then move on to discuss gerontological literature on the interaction between neighbourhood environments and older people’s social interaction. And lastly I review and argue for the valuable contribution which recent geographical conceptualisations of place can make to an understanding of older people’s participation in society.

After a detailed description of the research context, methods and data analysis I develop an intersectional analysis of older people’s relationalities with people and place across time using the in-depth case study of two individuals. The analysis shows the complex interweaving across the life course between identities and places through the performance of social interaction practices. The subsequent discussion places the data presented here in the context of previous research and concludes that a relational understanding of place can make a valuable contribution to the effective promotion of social participation in later life.

Section snippets

Social participation in later life

There is little agreement on a definition of social participation in the health and social sciences. In their review Levasseur et al. (2010) identified 43 conceptualisations of social participation and closely related terms (such as social engagement). The authors conclude their taxonomy and analysis of the concept by proposing a definition of social participation as “a person’s involvement in activities that provide interaction with others in society or the community” (2010, p. 2148).

In the

Inequality, identity and place

Social gerontologists have become increasingly aware of the significance of the environment in shaping social relationships, identity and other aspects of older people’s experience of ageing (Scharf et al., 2003, Peace et al., 2005, Phillipson, 2007, Victor, 2010). For example, earlier studies of working-class communities have indicated that social relationships in terms of neighbourhood support were linked to the physical proximity of housing (Sheldon, 1948). In contrast, other studies

Geographies of age

Maxey (2009) and Pain and Hopkins (2007) develop a geography of age which aims to question age identities produced through social and physical spaces. They argue that in recent years geographers have neglected research into ageing. However, age needs to be understood as fluid, connected and spatialised. The authors point to the socially constructed nature of chronological age as a category of social difference and identity and argue that older people’s agency and capabilities have been

Understanding social participation relationally

A relational approach was developed by human geographers in order to bridge gaps between dualisms such as structure and agency (Pile and Thrift, 1995). Gerontologists generally tend to favour either one or the other approach to studying the ageing individual within society. Structural approaches in environmental gerontology tend to consider the ageing individual in the context of social relations and the individual’s actions determined by pressures from the physical, social or political

Situating the research

The research was carried out in one “disadvantaged” urban area in Manchester City, UK. The location is approximately 3 miles distant from the city centre. In 2001 the ward was classified by the Office of National Statistics as multiply deprived (ranked 45 nationally) with particular concern for the high rates of health related deprivation (ranked 35 nationally). This corresponds to large numbers of residents (27%) reporting limiting long-term conditions.

The findings presented here have been

Data analysis

Qualitative data analysis was carried out using NVivo 9 on all interviews (19 participants in total) combining a geographic intersectional analysis (Valentine, 2007, Pain and Hopkins, 2007, Berger and Guidroz, 2009) with a phenomenological life course approach (Rowles and Watkins, 2003, Rowles, 2008). I chose to combine these approaches in order to further a contextual and relational understanding of the complexity of individual’s experiences and social interaction practices over time. Rowles

Social participation and the life course

Bessie and Rita are sisters-in-law and good friends and have been spending time together for more than 35 years. Although living in different neighbourhoods even as young wives and mothers they used to take their children out to the park together. Bessie and Rita discuss what they did together in those early days:

Bessie:Well, you used to come to my house, didn’t you?
Rita:With all my four children.
Bessie:You used to come to our house once a week and your children used to come, didn’t they?
Rita:

Neighbourhoods as relational spaces

Apart from these very specific places which provide organised opportunities for older people’s social interaction, participants also recount informal social relationships enacted in neighbourhoods. Neighbourhoods are clearly defined by participants relationally as being the area within which one interacts socially through speaking with others or through socialising and from whom one can expect support:

Bessie: [Where we lived before] we knew every neighbour there, we knew every name; we went to

Enacting relational practices

Neighbourhood relationships were originally built and maintained through daily encounters in the street: informal chats and gossip among women in particular enacted social relationships and controlled social norms among the working-classes in the past (Roberts, 1984). Both street and neighbourhood were therefore understood by Bessie and Rita (and by other participants) as relational spaces and thus as important and meaningful spaces in their own right. Both reflect on changes in relational

Ageing, place and relationality

As relationships between people and places have thus changed over the life course, individuals may struggle to find places which support continuity of identity through social interaction but at the same time allow for flexibility in making fewer demands on the ageing individual. Older people continue to engage in social interaction because it gives them an immediate sense of enjoyment. In addition, being part of the club also gives Bessie and Rita a sense of defying the ageing process as the

Discussion

Ashida and Heaney (2008) consider emotional and social connectedness a basic human need, perceptions of which are linked to health and well-being among older people within an ‘active ageing’ discourse. However, the intersectional life course analysis has shown that class, gender and age intersect with relationalities of people and place to shape older people’s opportunities and patterns of social participation. In addition, relational practices across the life course are subject to both

Conclusion

In this paper I have traced some of the processes in which life-long patterns of and opportunities for social interaction shape older people’s relational practices. An intersectional life course analysis has been valuable in furthering our understanding of the significance of relational aspects of place for older people’s social interactions. Older people’s own perspectives and reflections on social participation have here been situated in spatial and temporal contexts which govern intersecting

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