Social activity and participation of older Russians in the context of active ageing
Abstract
The article analyzes the social activity and participation of older people in the context of active ageing. The research task was to reconstruct the repertoire of social activity/ participation of today’s older Russians and the meanings they put into this activity, and to answer the question of how this activity fits into the concept of active aging (longevity). In the analysis, we focused on practices and the meanings attributed to them among the two age groups of informants. The results obtained were compared with the Active Aging Index (AAI) as the most popular tool for determining the activity of the older people. The empirical base consisted of 28 in-depth interviews with people over 60 years (14 with working and 14 with non-working). The data of our study demonstrate a much richer repertoire of social activity and participation of the older than the that is supposed to be calculated within the framework of the AAI. The repertoire of activity is influenced by age after 75+ forms of activity becomes less and it drifts towards private life (family, caring for grandchildren and relatives) «dacha» deals, leaving of lost opportunities. The older age 75+ do not try to return to their previous activities, but, on the contrary, strive for a daily routine and involvement in family affairs, as well as various daily activities and hobbies that allow them to feel involved in social life. Postponement of aging in the age 60+ group is associated with maintaining activity at the level of middle age and active replacement of lost activities of the employment. The prescriptive and formalized nature of the indexes (in particular, AAI) does not take into account the really existing wide repertoire of social activity and participation of the older, and also does not allow reconstructing individual meanings and values of activity and linking it all with overall life satisfaction.
References
Галкин К.А. (2022) Социальная политика активного долголетия в России и государствах всеобщего благосостояния Европы: опыт сравнительного анализа. Экономические и социальные перемены: факты, тенденции, прогноз, 15(2): 239–252.
Григорьева И., Богданова Е. (2020) Концепция активного старения в Европе и России перед лицом пандемии COVID-19. Laboratorium: журнал социальных исследований, 2: 187–211.
Григорьева И.А. (2018) Пожилые женщины: «вниз по лестнице» возраста и гендера. Женщина в российском обществе, 1: 5–18.
Елютина М.Э., Трофимова О.А. (2017) Одинокое проживание и переживание одиночества в позднем возрасте. Журнал исследований социальной политики, 15(1): 37–50.
Киенко Т.С. (2021) Вторичные следствия ограничений и изоляции в условиях рисков COVID-19 для людей старшего возраста: синдемический подход. Сохранение здоровья населения как глобальная проблема современности: материалы междунар. междисцип. науч.-практ. конф. Омск: Русь: 116–119.
Колосницына М.Г., Хоркина Н.А. (2016) Государственная политика активного долголетия: о чем свидетельствует мировой опыт. Демографическое обозрение, 3(4): 27–46.
Овчарова Л.Н., Морозова М.А., Синявская О.В. (2020) Концепция политики активного долголетия. М.: Издат. дом Высшей школы экономики.
Синявская О.В., Червякова А.А., Карева Д.Е. (2019) Помогающие и счастливые? Влияние социальной активности на счастье людей старше 50 лет в европейских странах. Мониторинг общественного мнения: Экономические и социальные перемены, 6: 237–258.
Синявская О.В. (2020) Рожденные пандемией. Россия в глобальной политике, 18(5): 10–24.
Шабунова А.А., Барсуков В.Н. (2015) Тенденции демографического старения населения Российской Федерации и пути их преодоления. Проблемы развития территории, 1: 76–87.
Bengtson V.L., Gans D., Putney N. M., Silverstein M. (2009) Theories about age and aging. Handbook of theories of aging, 2: 3–23.
Biggs S., Hendricks J., Lowenstein A. (2020) The need for theory: Critical approaches to social gerontology. New York: Routledge.
Boudiny K. (2013) ‘Active ageing’: from empty rhetoric to effective policy tool. Ageing & Society, 33(6): 1077–1098.
De São José J. M., Timonen V., Amado C. A. F., Santos S. P. (2017) A critique of the Active Ageing Index. Journal of aging studies, 40: 49–56.
Denzin N.K. (2017) The research act: A theoretical introduction to sociological methods. New York: Routledge.
Elyutina M.E. Trofimova O.A. (2017) Odinokoe prozhivanie i perezhivanie odinochestva v pozdnem vozraste [Living alone and experiencing loneliness at a late age].
Zhurnal issledovanij social’noj politiki [Journal of Social Policy Research], 15(1): 37–50 (in Russian).
Formosa M. (2019) Active ageing in the fourth age: The experiences and perspectives of older persons in long-term care. Geopolitical, Social Security and Freedom Journal, 2(1): 78–92.
Formosa M. (2020) Activity theory as a foundation for active ageing policy: The Maltese experience. Polish Social Gerontology Journal, 18(1): 13–24.
Galkin K.A. (2022) Social’naya politika aktivnogo dolgoletiya v Rossii i gosudarstvah vseobshchego blagosostoyaniya Evropy: opyt sravnitel’nogo analiza [The social policy of active longevity in Russia and the Welfare States of Europe: the experience of comparative analysis]. Ekonomicheskie i social’nye peremeny: fakty, tendencii, prognoz [Economic and social changes: facts, trends, forecast], 15(2): 239–252 (in Russian).
Grigoryeva I., Bogdanova E. (2020) Koncepciya aktivnogo stareniya v Evrope i Rossii pered licom pandemii COVID-19 [The concept of active aging in Europe and Russia in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic]. Laboratorium: zhurnal socialnyh issledovanij [Laboratorium: Journal of Social Research], 2: 187–211 (in Russian).
Grigoryeva I.A. (2018) Pozhilye zhenshchiny:«vniz po lestnice» vozrasta i gendera [Older women:”down the ladder” of age and gender]. Zhenshchina v rossijskom obshchestve [A woman in Russian society], 1: 5–18 (in Russian).
Harris D.K. (2003) The sociology of ageing. 3rd ed. Lanham, MA: Rowman & Littlefield.
Havighurst R.J. (1963) Successful aging. Processes of aging: Social and psychological perspectives, 1: 299–320.
Kienko T.S. (2021) Vtorichnye sledstviya ogranichenij i izolyacii v usloviyah riskov COVID–19 dlya lyudej starshego vozrasta: sindemicheskij podhod [Secondary consequences of restrictions and isolation in the context of COVID-19 risks for older people: a synthetic approach]. In: Sohranenie zdorov’ya naseleniya kak global’naya problema sovremennosti: mat. mezhdunar. mezhdistsip. nauch.-praktich. konf. [Preservation of public health as a global problem of our time: Mat. intl. interdisciplinary scientificpractical. conf]. Omsk: Rus: 116–119 (in Russian).
Knickman J.R., Snell E.K. (2002) The 2030 problem: caring for aging baby boomers. Health services research, 37(4): 849–884.
Kolosnicyna M.G., Horkina N.A. (2016) Gosudarstvennaya politika aktivnogo dolgoletiya: o chem svidetel’stvuet mirovoj opyt [The state policy of active longevity: as evidenced by the world experience]. Demograficheskoe obozrenie [Demographic overview], 3(4): 27–46 (in Russian).
Kvale S. (1994) Interviews: An introduction to qualitative research interviewing. Newbury Park, California: Sage.
Lakomý M. (2021) The effect of roles prescribed by active ageing on quality of life across European regions. Ageing & Society, 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0144686X21000726.
Lemon B.W., Bengtson V.L., Peterson J.A. (1972) An exploration of the activity theory of aging: Activity types and life satisfaction among in-movers to a retirement community. Journal of gerontology, 27(4): 511–523.
North M.S. (2019) A gate to understanding “older” workers: Generation, age, tenure, experience. Academy of Management Annals, 13(2): 414–443.
Novak M. (2018) Issues in aging. New York: Routledge.
Ovcharova L.N., Morozova M.A., Sinyavskaya O.V (2020) Koncepciya politiki aktivnogo dolgoletiya: nauchno-metodologicheskij doklad k XXI Aprel’skoj mezhdunarodnoj nauchnoj konferencii po problemam razvitiya ekonomiki i obshchestva [The concept of active longevity policy: a scientific and methodological report for the XXI April International Scientific Conference on the Problems of Economic and Social Development]. Moscow: National Research University “Higher School of Economics” (in Russian).
Ovcharova L.N., Morozova M.A., Sinyavskaya O.V. (2020) Koncepciya politiki aktivnogo dolgoletiya [The concept of active ageing policy]. Moskva: Izdatel’stvo Vysshej shkoly ekonomiki (in Russian).
Polivka L. (2011) Neoliberalism and postmodern cultures of aging. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 30(2): 173–184.
Principi A., Di Rosa M., Domínguez-Rodríguez A., Varlamova M., Barbabella F., Lamura G., Socci M. (2021) The Active Ageing Index and policy making in Italy. Ageing & Society, 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0144686X21001835.
Shabunova A.A., Barsukov V.N. (2015) Tendencii demograficheskogo stareniya naseleniya Rossijskoj Federacii i puti ih preodoleniya [Trends in demographic aging of the population of the Russian Federation and ways to overcome them]. Problemy razvitiya territorii [Problems of territory development], 1: 76–87 (in Russian).
Sidorenko A., Zaidi A. (2013) Active ageing in CIS countries: Semantics, challenges, and responses. Current gerontology and geriatrics research, 261819. https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/261819.
Sinyavskaya O.V., Chervyakova A.A., Kareva D.E. (2019) Pomogayushchie i schastlivye? Vliyanie social’noj aktivnosti na schast’e lyudej starshe 50 let v evropejskih stranah [Helpful and happy? The impact of social activity on the happiness of people over 50 in European countries]. Monitoring obshchestvennogo mneniya: ekonomicheskie i social’nye peremeny [Public opinion monitoring: economic and social changes], 6: 237–258 (in Russian).
Versey S.H. (2015) Activity theory. In: Whitbourne S.K. (ed.) The encyclopedia of adulthood and aging. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Wild K., Wiles J.L., Allen R.E. (2013) Resilience: Thoughts on the value of the concept for critical gerontology. Ageing & Society, 33(1): 137–158.
Zacher H., Kooij D.T.A.M., Beier M.E. (2018) Active aging at work. Organizational Dynamics, 47(1): 37–45.
