Ageing body

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RÉSUMÉDes pressions sociales récentes ont amené une nouvelle conception du « troisième âge », qui est maintenant vu comme une période d’activité constante, et non de repos ou de relaxation. Cet article explore les pressions exercées sur les individus, qui sont poussés vers le vieillissement « réussi » à travers la pratique d’activités physiques, malgré leur avancée en âge. Il examine, par l’intermédiaire d’entretiens semi-directifs avec 15 personnes à la retraite ou en préretraite fréquentant les gyms (8 femmes, 7 hommes), comment cet appel à une activité accrue influence la perception que des adultes d’âge moyen et avancé ont d’eux-mêmes et des autres. En prenant appui sur la nature productive du pouvoir, tel que conçu par Foucault, cet article fait valoir que les individus qui se perçoivent comme des adeptes du vieillissement actif et réussi se considèrent en opposition à leurs pairs inactifs. Dans un cadre néolibéral, ces participants se définissent comme des citoyens moralement ...

This article examines the connections between embodied and somatic spirituality that are revealed in the making of the dancefilm Terrain: Dancing on Stolen Land, filmed and performed by the author on Maiawali and Karuwali Country, known as the Channel Country, in the Diamantina National Park in outback Australia. Through a phenomenological approach, the author investigates her responses to the vast Australian outback. Using the language of responsive dance captured on film and in text, she discusses place, site-specific performance, invisibility, listening and cultural mindfulness, as experienced through improvisational performances on a contested landscape. On this ancient terrain, she pays her respect and acknowledgement to the traditional owners of this unceded land, past, present and emerging.

Representations of older age are frequently associated with bodies in decline. Looking old can trigger discriminatory social behaviours and conceal the richness of the lived experience. Avatars, full-body digital self-representations of the user, influence the way users think and behave in virtual environments (VE). As older adults increasingly participate in online spaces, which use avatars for self-representation, it is essential to understand how to best support their online self-representations. This thesis addresses this gap by engaging older adults in designing their full-body avatars. Across four studies using research through design, this thesis provides older adults' views about how they want to be graphically represented. In Study 1, I conducted gameplay observations and semi-structured interviews that provided an initial understanding of how older adults who play online games projected aspects of their identities into their player self-representations. The study revealed that participants designed their player self-representations by projecting aspects of their past (former) self and embracing their present older selves. For Studies 2, 3, and 4, I engaged a group of older adults aged 70-80 in designing avatars. In Study 2, older adults designed a full-body avatar during a group design workshop. The study demonstrated that older adults negotiate with ageing stereotypes when creating their avatar designs. Some participants reproduced realistic representations of the aged appearance that suggests acceptance of ageing bodies; others idealised their avatars by depicting healthy bodies or societal ideals of youth. This study highlighted that the character creation interfaces (CCIs) (where users designed the avatars) presented limited design choices to portray ageing features. Informed by the previous outcomes, Study 3 explored if the graphic styles of the avatar customisation prompted older adults' expressions of identity. Through extended individual design sessions, participants designed a photorealistic avatar and a cartoon avatar. The analysis of the individual design journeys demonstrates that participants conformed to social norms through the design of the photorealistic avatar and rebelled against these social norms through the design of the cartoon avatar. While the

RÉSUMÉDes pressions sociales récentes ont amené une nouvelle conception du « troisième âge », qui est maintenant vu comme une période d’activité constante, et non de repos ou de relaxation. Cet article explore les pressions exercées sur les individus, qui sont poussés vers le vieillissement « réussi » à travers la pratique d’activités physiques, malgré leur avancée en âge. Il examine, par l’intermédiaire d’entretiens semi-directifs avec 15 personnes à la retraite ou en préretraite fréquentant les gyms (8 femmes, 7 hommes), comment cet appel à une activité accrue influence la perception que des adultes d’âge moyen et avancé ont d’eux-mêmes et des autres. En prenant appui sur la nature productive du pouvoir, tel que conçu par Foucault, cet article fait valoir que les individus qui se perçoivent comme des adeptes du vieillissement actif et réussi se considèrent en opposition à leurs pairs inactifs. Dans un cadre néolibéral, ces participants se définissent comme des citoyens moralement ...

This article reviews several authors' perspectives on the advantages and disadvantages of a global postmodern society and its effect on the affluent and not-soaffluent elderly. Without the socioeconomic supports of the past, the not-so-affluent elderly may find themselves insecure and anxious about their core identity in a postmodern world, while the affluent elderly with the resources to consume postmodern society's growing array of medical procedures, technological devices, etc. may benefit from the multiple, shifting identities characteristic of postmodern culture. Without recognition of what aging has to teach us about the human condition, several authors see a loss of existential/spiritual meaning in postmodern society.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine narratives of ageing in a clinical population embarking on a physical activity/exercise programme, exploring if and how their narratives changed throughout their experiences. Method: Participants were six sedentary individuals aged between 78-89 years who were enrolled on an exercise programme for older adults. During the course of the 32week programme participants took part in multiple interviews focused on their attitudes towards physical activity and their physical self-perceptions and identity. A structural narrative analysis was used to focus on the progression of the plot outlined in each participant's story. Results: Our results suggested the emergence of two comparative narratives, with each demonstrated in the stories told by three participants. The first narrative is one of decelerated decline, in which the exercise programme is assimilated or fitted into the existing life narrative, but little is made of the personal meaning of being active. In the second narrative, participation in exercise prompted participants to re-story their ageing narratives, changing from initially accepting the decline they associated with an ageing body, to the prospect of gaining some control. While this increased sense of control may intuitively seem positive, participants initially described a number of existential challenges and dilemmas as well as their resolution of these. RUNNING HEAD: OLDER ADULTS' NARRATIVES DURING EXERCISE UPTAKE 3 Conclusion: Participants' emergent stories highlighted that while older adults may perceive exercise positively, their existing narratives of decline may be resistant to change. Where changes do occur, it is important for health professionals to recognize the associated difficulties with gaining increased responsibility for health. RUNNING HEAD: OLDER ADULTS' NARRATIVES DURING EXERCISE UPTAKE 4 The rapidly ageing population has been identified as a major global phenomenon, with individuals over 60 years of age comprising 18% of the worldwide population in 2012, and the total number of older people expected to surpass 1 billion in the subsequent ten years (United Nations Population Fund [UNPF], 2012). This dramatic change in the global population has focused attention on remaining healthy throughout later life, including being physically active. Nevertheless, physical activity levels typically decrease progressively with age, and many older adults perceive age and/or poor health as barriers preventing them from being physically active (Whaley & Ebbeck, 2002; Wurm, Tomasik, & Tesch-Römer, 2010). This has personal, social and economic implications as the benefits of physical activity and exercise are welldocumented, for instance, improved quality of life, decreased likelihood of depression and cardiovascular disease, and improved muscle strength and joint flexibility (e.g.,

Physical activity is increasingly positioned as playing an important role in preventing and mitigating many of the decrements associated with biological ageing. As a result, public health messages encourage older people to remain active in later life. Despite this, physical activity participation rates among older adults are low. This may be in part related to the conventional approach to understanding physical activity participation as a product of motivation. We contend that this approach does not allow for a deeper exploration of the wider structural, historical and discursive contexts in which physical activity participation occurs. Therefore, we propose that physical activity can be reconceptualised as a career. Through a synthesis of findings from four studies exploring physical activity experiences in later life, we demonstrate that beginning and maintaining a physical activity career requires a disposition towards physical activity, the legitimation of physically active prac...

-Dans cet article nous proposons une analyse critique des nouvelles modalités de gestion du corps vieillissant. En particulier nous nous intéressons à l 'activité physique (l'AP) comme moyen de mettre en oeuvre un rapport au corps obéissant à de nouvelles normes de santé et de comportements. Ces pratiques pourraient constituer une nouvelle forme de vie caractérisant le gouvernement de soi dans la société néo-libérale (Rose, 2007). Dans les faits la proportion de seniors qui font une pratique de l'AP en quantité nécessaire pour prévenir les pathologies de la vieillesse reste assez faible. Le nombre croissant d'interventions et la prescription médicale en AP n'ont pas eu le succès escompté auprès des seniors. Pour comprendre leur résistance à l'adoption de cette nouvelle forme de vie, notre regard s'éloigne d'explications qui sont fondées sur la motivation et se tourne plutôt vers les parcours de vie et les corps vécus pour comprendre comment les circonstances historiques, culturelles, structurelles deviennent littéralement incarnées pour permettre à une carrière en AP de se déclencher et de se développer. Comme principe déclencheur, la santé offre des ouvertures mais a aussi ses limites. En partant du corps des individus nous pouvons retracer les sédimentations discursives dans lesquelles le corps est inséré et noter les tensions entre les discours professionnels, les dispositions et croyances de seniors et leur rapport au corps. Les schémas corporels rencontrés nous permettent d'entrevoir les limites du gouvernement néolibéral. Mots clés-corps vécu, activité physique, santé Abstract-A New Form of Life ? Physical Activity and the reconstruction of the ageing body Short title: Physical Activity and the reconstruction of the ageing body This article is concerned with the processes which hinder or promote older people's ability to conform to a new form of life in the neoliberal society anticipated by British Sociologist Nik Rose (2007). We will undertake this analysis by focusing on the example of physical activity. The evidence shows that the proportion of older people who fulfill physical activity recommendations to prevent the pathologies associated with increasing age remains quite low, despite the recent proliferation of interventions and the promotion of medical prescriptions. To understand why older people appear to resist the opportunity to adopt a new form of life we will propose explanations which eschew the recourse to individual motivation to focus instead on the incorporation of historical, cultural and structural contingencies which enable the triggering and development of a physical activity career. We will see that the health imperative can help trigger a PA career but that on its own it is not always enough to develop it. Starting from the bodies of indivduals we can chart the discursive sedimentation in which they are caught up and identify tensions within professional discourses, the dispositions and beliefs of older people and the corporeal orientation they have developed throughout their lives. The body schema we encounter along the way will show up the limits of neoliberal government.

This paper challenges dominant explanations of physical activity participation in later life as they tend to prioritise individual motivation at the expense of other explanations. Reference is also made to generational characteristics. What the recourse to generation tends to do is reinforce stereotypes of age, while the more complex and deep-seated processes which affect the development of dispositions to physical movement are not highlighted. Furthermore the conditions in which physical activity can be maintained throughout the lifecourse are occluded. I propose therefore that we should recast physical activity participation within the context of a history of appropriate and normative physicality acting as a weight which infuses whether and how we develop physical activity as a durable practice. In the process I will adopt an eclectic theoretical stance. To bring the complexities of physical activity participation to the fore, I will focus on my own experiences of a particular type of physical activity: hillwalking. I will make the case for a critical autobiographical approach to show how important history has been in the awakening of my physical dispositions and in the long journey of identity formation. I conclude that we can conceive of obstacles to physically active embodiment as manifestations of oppression rather than as a question of individual motivation.

ABSTRACTThis paper discusses findings from a qualitative study which explored older adults' experiences of becoming regular exercisers in a gym triggered by health problems and their interactions with their younger gym instructors. A key question which the study sought to address was whether becoming embedded in the sub-field of exercise challenged traditional discourses of ageing (age habitus). While these older gym users reported significant benefits (greater health capital, expanded social networks and a return to active life after illness), they nevertheless were engaged in a complex and ambiguous negotiation of attitudes to bodily ageing and meanings of fitness and competence. In contrast, the instructors subscribed to a model of physical activity oriented towards physical capital as greater fitness. The paper suggests that these positions manifest competing understandings about what constitutes appropriate and desirable physical capital in later life. Budgetary constraints...

Some older people describe learning to stay fit and healthy and exercise as a regular part of their lives. There is evidence that exercise is beneficial in terms of physical, psychological and social functioning in older adults. This paper is unique in that it is an analysis of the spontaneous discussion of exercise by older people as a priority in their lives. It also provides information about the kinds of exercise they choose. An online written data forum in Australia with responses from 103 people aged 50 to 92 years (F52, M 51) was analysed for all mention of exercise. The respondents were prompted to comment on sustainable lifestyles as they aged. Thirty per cent mentioned exercise as a priority in their lives. Activities included irregular exercise (11%) routine organised exercise such as golf or tennis (8%) and purposeful exercise such as regular gym attendance (11%), where the respondents explained why they needed to exercise. A few (7%) talked about the need to stay healthy without explaining how. Some (2%) described barriers and conditions that made exercise difficult. These figures for engaging in exercise are similar to those identified in 2018 by the Australian Institute for Health and Welfare. As evidenced by the literature in the area, lack of awareness of the specific benefits of exercise and barriers to exercise for older adults are not new problems. However, given the increase in the percentage of older people in the population and the demonstrated beneficial effects of exercise, it is worthwhile to document the motivation for exercise and engagement in older adults and to suggest strategies to increase their activity.

Upon entering the registration area for the Pan Pacific Masters Games, I was funneled through about 12 booths that included Games merchandise, local tourist information and exhibitions. Six of them were selling sports-related goods, such as 'custom made' sports team apparel, 'functional and fashionable' swimwear, 'revolutionary' running shoes, 'state-ofthe-art devices' for pain relief and a 'ground-breaking' functional performance exercise program. Four booths were dedicated to promoting the next three Masters Games events to be held locally (Lismore), nationally (Australia) and internationally (New Zealand). One booth was occupied by an airport transfers company and another the Cancer Council. The registration tables were positioned at the back. When I collected my backpack and event program, I noticed that inside my backpack was a QLD events guide, swimwear magazine and Gold Coast visitor's map. As I exited

Events dedicated and marketed to Masters/Veteran’s sport ‘consumers’ are gaining popularity across Western countries, with most of the participants aged in their 40s and 50s. This chapter focuses on how the Masters sport movement has evolved into a place where like-minded, middle-class, already- physically active people gather in pursuit of leisure and pleasure. We draw on observational, documentary and interview data collected over a number of studies to highlight the: (1) various subcultures within this movement (e.g., sport party-goers, sport travellers and performance-oriented athletes) and (2) effects of the commercialisation of Masters sport. Our purpose here is to demonstrate that the Masters sport movement has become a place where the market can use the ‘Sport for All’ and ‘Healthy Lifestyles’ dogma to exploit and regulate financially comfortable middle-aged adults who have a desire for sport performance, travel, consumption and socialising. The marketisation of Masters spor...

In this chapter, we review research on sport participation in later life, and posit the concept of sport-as-leisure. A sport-as-leisure conceptualization posits that sport is a form of leisure that contributes to later life growth and meaning but not to the exclusion of other forms of leisure that also provide meaning and fulfillment. Topics discussed include the privileged nature of sport participation, the multifold meanings of sport across the lifespan-including gendered perspectives, the paradox of older adult sports, societal and policy implications of sport, and future directions in later life sports. An exploration of sport-as-leisure in later life provides fertile ground to examine the value of sport in the context of a positive sociology of leisure and aging.

The ageing population in Canada is dramatically increasing. According to recent demographic projections, roughly 20 percent of Canada’s population will consist of people over the age 65 by 2024. Indeed, the senior population is expected to surpass that of children under the age of 14 by 2017. This growth of the senior cohort signals opportunities for individuals over the age of 50 to challenge stereotypes and embrace active living. Organized sport leagues are a means for seniors to not only embrace active living, but to also re-live and continue living the competitive sports that they played earlier in life. The increasing number of organized sport leagues for this cohort, including the active living philosophy embraced by baby boomers, will probably lead to an increased demand for more organized sport opportunities for this population group. The purpose of this paper is to provide a current state of condition of organized sport leagues for those 50 years of age and over. Specifical...

The mouth may be presented and understood in different ways, be subject to judgement by others and, as we age, may intrude on everyday life due to problems that affect oral health. However, research that considers older people's experiences concerning their mouths and teeth is limited. This paper reports on qualitative research with 43 people in England and Scotland, aged 65–91, exploring the significance of the mouth over the lifecourse. It uses the concept of ‘mouth talk’ to explore narratives of maintaining, losing and replacing teeth. Participants engaged in ‘mouth talk’ to downplay the impact of the mouth, demonstrate socially appropriate ageing, and distance themselves from ‘real’ old age by retaining a moral identity and sense of self. They also found means to challenge dominant discourses of ageing in how they spoke about missing teeth. Referring to Leder's notion of ‘dys-appearance’ and Gilleard and Higgs’ work on the social imaginary of the fourth age, the study il...

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This paper argues that the sociology of the body must take more account of embodiment as an ongoing process that occurs over the life course, and it suggests that a critical perspective is required that emphasizes the material processes of embodiment by which physical changes in age and time are culturally mediated. We take the concept of the embodied life course as a starting point for probing the temporal aspects of bodily life, for exploring the ways in which biological, biographical and socio-historical time intersect, and for grasping the ways that temporality is materialized and mobilized through bodies. Taking the example of the biomedical reconfiguration of sexual function across the life course, we demonstrate how aging bodies have been opened to new forms of intervention that situate them within new understandings of nature and culture. Conclusions reflect on the contradictions of ‗post-ageist' discourses and practices that promise to liberate bodies from chronological age, while simultaneously re-naturalizing gender in sexed bodies.

This paper argues that the sociology of the body must take more account of embodiment as an ongoing process that occurs over the life course, and it suggests that a critical perspective is required that emphasizes the material processes of embodiment by which physical changes in age and time are culturally mediated. We take the concept of the embodied life course as a starting point for probing the temporal aspects of bodily life, for exploring the ways in which biological, biographical and socio-historical time intersect, and for grasping the ways that temporality is materialized and mobilized through bodies. Taking the example of the biomedical reconfiguration of sexual function across the life course, we demonstrate how aging bodies have been opened to new forms of intervention that situate them within new understandings of nature and culture. Conclusions reflect on the contradictions of ‗post-ageist' discourses and practices that promise to liberate bodies from chronological age, while simultaneously re-naturalizing gender in sexed bodies.

This study contributes to the fields of aging and physical activity by applying the key principles of the life course perspective to investigate women’s team sport participation experience in late adulthood. Through focus groups, data were collected from six competitive softball teams of women (N=64) ranging from 55 to 79 years old. Data were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed for themes related to the life course principles of historical context and place, social embeddedness, agency, as well as trajectories and timing. A key study finding was that the women experienced cultural lag and age-related barriers to resources when playing competitive softball in late adulthood. Additionally, the network of shared relationships occupied by these women had both positive and negative influences on their participation in competitive sports. Study findings can help inform services and programs at the local community level aimed at enhancing women’s physical activity and health in late adulthood.

Research suggests that age and gender play important roles in motivation for and constraints to leisure time physical activity. Little research, however, has looked specifically at the perceptions and experiences of older men. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore leisure time physical activity and the ageing body from the perspectives of older men. Social cognitive theory was

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine narratives of ageing in a clinical population embarking on a physical activity/exercise programme, exploring if and how their narratives changed throughout their experiences. Design: The study employed a longitudinal narrative approach. Method: Participants were six sedentary individuals aged between 78 and 89 years who were enrolled on an exercise programme for older adults. During the course of the 32-week programme participants took part in multiple interviews focused on their attitudes towards physical activity and their physical self-perceptions and identity. A structural narrative analysis was used to focus on the progression of the plot outlined in each participant's story. Results: Our results suggested the emergence of two comparative narratives, with each demonstrated in the stories told by three participants. The first narrative is one of decelerated decline, in which the exercise programme is assimilated or fitted into the existing life narrative, but little is made of the personal meaning of being active. In the second narrative, participation in exercise prompted participants to restory their ageing narratives, changing from initially accepting the decline they associated with an ageing body, to the prospect of gaining some control. While this increased sense of control may intuitively seem positive, participants initially described a number of existential challenges and dilemmas as well as their resolution of these. Conclusion: Participants' emergent stories highlighted that while older adults may perceive exercise positively, their existing narratives of decline may be resistant to change. Where changes do occur, it is important for health professionals to recognize the associated difficulties with gaining increased responsibility for health.

The body is inescapable. This is amply illustrated when we age. It seems obvious to state that becoming and being old has a physical component. However, how we describe this component, the importance we attribute to it to explain other aspects of ageing, brings the bodily aspect of ageing into a different realm, that of the social and the cultural. It also makes bodily ageing amenable to critical analysis and theorising.
This chapter will show how theorising embodiment can provide us with the means to question assumptions about what becoming and being old might look and feel like, offering alternative perspectives and more satisfying, more humane ways of envisaging later life.This will be accomplished in four key steps. In the first step the key debates and conceptual developments that are constitutive of the sociology of the body, what has been referred to as the turn to the body in sociology, will be outlined.These will, in the second step, provide the springboard from which to consider the theoretical tools that have brought ageing and old bodies into visibility. In the third step, the chapter will show how these tools have led to the identification and examination of questions of identity and the lived experiences of becoming and being old. In the fourth step, the chapter will offer a reflection on the extent to which these developments enable us to rethink and re-imagine the social positioning of the old.

In this article, we draw on data from in‐depth interviews with five men and five women, aged 71–87, who had between four and 17 chronic conditions, to explore patterns of engagement in exercise amongst frail older adults. Having experienced marked declines in their health statuses over the previous two‐year period, our participants scored low on tests of functional abilities and reported profound physical changes and concomitant social losses. Despite their grave health statuses, seven were engaged in formal exercise programmes. We use Atchley’s continuity theory of ageing to discuss the three patterns of participation in exercise across the life course that emerged in our analysis, namely, lifelong participation, lifelong non‐engagement and later‐life adoption. In all three patterns, participants’ decisions to engage or not engage in exercise reflected efforts to maintain continuities of self and valued social or physical activities. We argue that rather than simply focusing on barriers and facilitators, we need to situate older adults’ decisions regarding exercise in the context of continuities of self.

This paper discusses findings from a qualitative study which explored older adults' experiences of becoming regular exercisers in a gym triggered by health problems and their interactions with their younger gym instructors. A key question which the study sought to address was whether becoming embedded in the sub-field of exercise challenged traditional discourses of ageing (age habitus). While these older gym users reported significant benefits (greater health capital, expanded social networks and a return to active life after illness), they nevertheless were engaged in a complex and ambiguous negotiation of attitudes to bodily ageing and meanings of fitness and competence. In contrast, the instructors subscribed to a model of physical activity oriented towards physical capital as greater fitness. The paper suggests that these positions manifest competing understandings about what constitutes appropriate and desirable physical capital in later life. Budgetary constraints, beliefs about physical ability, professional expectations and the persistence of the discourse of decline prevent this gap from being easily bridged and allow alternative notions of ageing physicality to colonise the sub-field of exercise. The paper concludes that there is a need to develop ways of breaking down barriers in communication to overcome divergent understandings of what constitutes legitimate physical capital as we get older.

In this article, the authors consider the different approaches that can be used to examine the relationship between physical activity and aging. They propose that much is to be gained in our awareness of this dynamic relationship by drawing on multiple forms of knowledge that can generate diverse understandings regarding the impact of physical activity on physiological, psychological, and social aspects of aging. Accordingly, 3 different approaches to understanding the older physically (in)active body are presented. These are categorized as (a) the objective truth about the aging, physically active body; (b) the subjective truth about the aging, physically active body; and (c) “tales” about the aging, physically active body. The key underpinnings, strengths, and weaknesses of each approach are outlined. A number of examples from the literature are also offered to demonstrate where and how each approach has been used to contribute to our understanding about older people and physical activity. The more thorough, multidisciplinary, and wide spanning our knowledge of the aging, active body is, the more informed we might become in every dimension of its existence.