Cultural Image of Older People during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Eneritz Jiménez-Etxebarria (), Joana Jaureguizar Alboniga-Mayor and Elena Bernaras Iturrioz
Additional contact information
Eneritz Jiménez-Etxebarria: Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, University of Basque Country UPV/EHU, 48940 Leioa, Spain
Joana Jaureguizar Alboniga-Mayor: Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, University of Basque Country UPV/EHU, 48940 Leioa, Spain
Elena Bernaras Iturrioz: Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, University of Basque Country UPV/EHU, 20018 Donostia, Spain

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 22, 1-10

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has made evident the exclusion to which older people may be subjected for reasons of age. This study delves into the cultural image of older adults during the pandemic from the perspective of people between 60 and 81 years of age. Through a qualitative methodology, the voices of 37 people have been collected through in-depth interviews. Two main themes are derived from the inductive analysis: on the one hand, the devaluation of older people, and on the other hand, the positive image of the older population as older and valid. We conclude that people over 60 years of age in the Basque Country denounce the stigma of low capacity attributed to the older population during the pandemic. They reject the signs of age-based overprotection manifested during the pandemic and highlight the vital experience by which older people could be considered referents in situations of social crisis. They reflect on the initiatives necessary to improve the cultural image of the older population and point out the opportunities for active ageing, education based on values and intergenerational relationships.

Keywords: pandemic; older people; social imaginary (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/22/14644/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/22/14644/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:22:p:14644-:d:966651

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().