KNOWHOW FOR LATER LIFE

Some social constructions of ageing

Adult Learning Australia Conference

Byron Bay 10-12 October 2012

Dr Malita Allan and Dr Helen KimberleyBrotherhood of St Laurence

KNOWHOW

• What is knowhow?The knowledge and skills people need in later life to engage with the complex social, economic and technological environment of the 21st Century

OUR RESEARCH

• What sorts of knowhow for later life are promoted by government, community and populist/self help publications on line and in print?

• What constructions are put on later life by these publications?

METHODOLOGY

• Search of publications targeted to older Australians in print and online

• Classification of knowhow content by topic and source

• Social constructions of ageing implicit in the publications

SOURCES

• Government publicationsOnline and print publications available from government departments & agencies

• Community publicationsInformation produced by organisations providing services to older adults: non-government, professional, peak bodies and organisations with public membership. Sometimes including product endorsement

• Populist & self-help publicationsInformation in popular media, such as magazines and websites, produced by both membership organisations and private enterprise including advertising and product endorsement

CONTENT

• Health, wellbeing and lifestyle• Financial matters• Housing• Accommodation and care• Learning • Communications and technology • Work• Civic engagement

SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONS

Shaping subjectivities

‘... political power operates by shaping and promoting approved subjectivities through discursive practices that, in turn, are influenced by a multitude of political, social and cultural factors. By promoting and disseminating normative subjectivities, the state and other actors “govern at a distance” and “govern through freedom”’ (Rudman 2006)

SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONS

• Neoliberal constructions of later life

• Welfare constructions of later life

3 STEREOTYPES

• The super senior

• The productive senior

• The needy senior

THE SUPER SENIOR

• Healthy, wealthy and age defying

THE PRODUCTIVE SENIOR

• Working on paid (best) or unpaid (increasingly valued)

THE NEEDY SENIOR

• Poor, sick and in need of protection

‘GOOD’ AND ‘BAD’ OLD AGE

‘Good’ old age requires health, independence, and economic and social vitality, reflecting the dominance of independence, youthfulness, effectiveness and productivity as values in Western societies (Rozanova 2010)... ‘Bad’ old age is characterised by illness, decline and a strain on social programs and economies around the world. (Milner et al 2012, p.26)

ONGOING RESEARCH

• What knowhow do older adults want?

• What knowhow are they missing?

• How do they want to build it?

• What backing is needed?

• Where does knowhow fit in the field of adult learning?

mallen@bsl.org.auhkimberley@bsl.org.au

www.bsl.org.au