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Ageing activists: who gets involved in older people's forums?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2011

MARIAN BARNES ,
ELIZABETH HARRISON  and
LESLEY MURRAY
MARIAN BARNES*
Affiliation:
School of Applied Social Science, University of Brighton, UK.
ELIZABETH HARRISON
Affiliation:
Social Anthropology, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK.
LESLEY MURRAY
Affiliation:
School of Applied Social Science, University of Brighton, UK.
*
Address for correspondence: Marian Barnes, School of Applied Social Science, University of Brighton, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9PH, UK. E-mail: Marian.Barnes@brighton.ac.uk
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Abstract

Based on research with members of two Senior Citizens Forums in the South East of England, this article examines the biographies and motivations of those who get involved in such activities, with particular emphasis on (a) how they see themselves in relation to ‘other older people’ and (b) their relationships with the places in which they live. We address these issues in relation to the characterisation of participants in such forums as the ‘usual suspects’ whose legitimacy to speak on behalf of others may be questioned, and by reference to a growing recognition of the significance of place in the lives of older people. Whilst the locations of the two Forums studied are geographically close, culturally they are quite distinct and we identify important differences in motivations, backgrounds and priorities of forum members in the two places that are associated with these differences. Our research confirms that place-based participation tends to engage those who are fitter and who have more social and cultural capital, but questions assumptions that this means they are spaces for the pursuit of self-interest.

Keywords

participationplacemotivationsolder people's forumsidentities
Type
Articles
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 32 , Issue 2 , February 2012 , pp. 261 - 280
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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