Reconstructing the Social Image of Older Women and Ageing: The Transformative Power of the Narrative Set in the Local Context

Paquita Sanvicen-Torné, Ieva Stončikaitė, Anna Soldevila-Benet and Fidel Molina-Luque
Additional contact information
Paquita Sanvicen-Torné: Department of Sociology, GESEC-INDEST, University of Lleida, 25003 Lleida, Spain
Ieva Stončikaitė: Department of English and Linguistics, DEDAL-LIT, University of Lleida, 25003 Lleida, Spain
Anna Soldevila-Benet: Department of Pedagogy, GESEC-INDEST, University of Lleida, 25003 Lleida, Spain
Fidel Molina-Luque: Department of Sociology, GESEC-INDEST, University of Lleida, 25003 Lleida, Spain

Land, 2022, vol. 11, issue 7, 1-22

Abstract: This case study reveals that age-related areas are the least desirable professional future options for many university students in social work degree programmes. One of the possible causes is the negative social labelling of older age, especially pronounced in respect of older women. Additionally, there is a poor and limited educational approach towards later life and growing older inside and outside the educational settings. This article focuses on the social construction of older age from gender and double theoretical perspectives. In particular, it centers on the pillars of education and profiguration. For educational and analytical purposes, these aspects are approached in the classroom setting from a critical perspective by using the in-depth reading of a book that is set in the local context, in particular, the city of Lleida (Spain). It presents the results of the content analysis and reflections written by 170 first-year university students taking a degree course in social work, and the outcomes of the subsequent classroom discussions with the author of the book. The study results show that better knowledge about the complexities of ageing and later life can lead to the reconstruction of the students’ viewpoints about older age, help foster critical thinking, and defy age-related stereotypes, beliefs, and prejudices.

Keywords: older women; social imaginary; active ageing; profiguration; gender; narrative; local territorial context; social sustainability; prejudices (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (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/2073-445X/11/7/1057/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/7/1057/ (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:jlands:v:11:y:2022:i:7:p:1057-:d:861198

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

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