Ageing, the Body and Social Change: Running in Later Life

196 Pages·2008·0.823 MB·English

by  Emmanuelle Tulle (auth.)

Ageing, the Body and Social Change
AlsobyEmmanuelleTulle
OLDAGEANDAGENCY
THEBODY,CULTUREANDSOCIETY:AnIntroduction(co-editedwithHancock,P.,
Hughes,B.,Jagger,E.,Paterson,K.,Russell,R.,andTyler,M.)
Ageing, the Body and
Social Change
Running in Later Life
Emmanuelle Tulle
GlasgowCaledonianUniversity,UK
©EmmanuelleTulle2008
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2008 978-0-230-51759-2
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Contents
ListofAbbreviations vi
Introduction vii
1 EmbodyingAgeing 1
2 DebatesintheSociologyoftheBody 18
3 SocialFieldsasSpacesofDisruption 40
4 CapturingAgeingEmbodiment 61
5 DisruptedBiographies 77
6 TheEmbodimentofAthleticMastery 94
7 ManagingAgeing 114
8 MappinganEmbodiedSociologyofAgeing 140
Conclusion 161
Notes 167
References 168
Index 178
v
List of Abbreviations
HR Hillrunner
LD Long-distancerunner:specialisingindistancesexceeding
10km
LD/r Retiredlong-distancerunner
T&F TrackandFieldathlete:mainlysprintersandtriplejumpers
T&F/r RetiredTrackandFieldathlete
UR Ultrarunner:specialisingindistancesexceedingmarathon
distance(26miles)
vi
Introduction
“We’ve got to run here’’, Marc said, tapping a brown puddle
sonata with a Nike-clad toe. “You must fight the postmodern
experience! You’ll have the time of your life’’. His youthful
enthusiasmbeliedhis54years.
(Ottati2002:19)
Canwereallychangetheworldbyrunning?Orputanotherway,canthe
wayweuseourbodiesreflectoreveninitiatesignificantsocialchange?
Howdoweknowthatanychangesobservedarereallysignificant?
Inthisquotethenarratorandhisrunningpartnerhavereachedages
at which most people have stopped aspiring to physical competence
of the kind inherent in the pursuit of athletic excellence. These older
runnersandthosewhowillgivefleshtothesociologicalanalysistobe
presented in this book are deadly serious. Over several years, and even
decades, they have shaped their lives, their psychological tendencies,
theiraspirationsand,aboveall,theirbodies,bysubjectingthemselvesto
demandingtrainingregimesandracingschedules.Atthesametimethey
holddowndemandingjobsandareactivespouses,parentsandfriends.
WhenMarcisencouraginghisrunningmatestochoosethemuddyrun-
ning trail over the drier and more dependable course, he is not only
urgingthemtoembraceafullphysicalexperienceoveramoresanitised
one, but also testing their discipline. Running is a challenge to post-
modern (read, inauthentic, virtual) living and a test of one’s physical
competence. Is it also a significant challenge to ageing? There is a clue
totheprobleminthelastsentenceofthequote.
In this last sentence the narrator draws attention to his friend’s age
and contrasts it with his “youthful’’ attitude. This is a typical trope in
accountsofage,whichservestochallengepreconceptions.Juxtaposinga
relativelyelevatedagewithaclaimtoyouthfulnessimpliesthatageneed
notbeatimeofnarrowhorizonsandnegativeattitude.Atthesametime
it also implies that old age is not desirable. Does this trope challenge
stereotypes of old age and old people? Is having youthful enthusiasm
exemplifiedbythewilltochallengethebodythewaytotransformthe
vii
viii Introduction
arguablydiminishedstatusofolderpeople?Thesequestionsareusefulto
kick-starttheanalysisthatwillbedevelopedinthebookandthecentral
questionswhichwillhelpgenerateit.
Iproposethattoaddressthesequestions,thesociologyofageingand
old age needs to be embodied. I will undertake this by focusing on a
veryspecificgroupofolderpeople–VeteraneliterunnerssuchasMark
above – and explore how this process of embodiment can be achieved
by investigating their lived experiences, with a primary focus on the
everyday management of the body as it has evolved over time. More
specifically,Iwishtothrowlightontheinterrelationshipbetweenbod-
ilyprocesses(bywhichImeannotonlythesensationsofthebodybut
alsotheengagementwithidiosyncraticphysicalandphysiologicalstruc-
tures),sociallocationandidentity,withinthecontextofageing,thatis
withinacontextofchange.InthiswayIhopetoopenthewayforthe-
oreticaldevelopmentandrefinementinsociologicalunderstandingsof
ageingandoldagetochallengetheerosioninsocialandculturalcapital
whichthreatensusasweenteroldage.
The concerns which animate this book continue a project of critical
enquiryinageingstudieswhichhasbeenongoingforsometime.Inthe
last 20 years the building blocks of a critical sociology of ageing have
beenlaid.Keytexts,steepedinFoucauldianthought,haveunpackedin
minutedetailthemodalitiesofthesocialconstructionofageingandold
agesincetheadventofmodernity(Green1993;Katz1996).Thesecon-
tributionshaveaffirmedthatageingandoldageneednolongersimply
be slaves to biological processes. The fact that they were was shown to
betheresultofthedevelopmentofbiomedicine,withthelatterprovid-
ingtheprimarydiscursiveframeworkwithinwhicholdageandageing
cametobeknownandexperienced.Theseanalysesconfirmedtherole
oftheageing,medicalisedbodyinattitudestowardsolderpeople.Other
publicationshavesignalledthearrivalofpostmodernityinstudiesofage-
ing.Theculturalcontextinwhichageingandbeingoldisexperienced
hasbeenscrutinised(Blaikie1999;Featherstoneetal.1991;Featherstone
and Wernick 1995; Gilleard and Higgs 2000; Hepworth 2000). Much
of what people fear about ageing and old age has been shown to be
associated with the cultural marginalisation and concomitant loss of
identity which arise from the stereotypes of old age. These stereotypes
wereseenasunderpinnedbybodilyageingorratherbybeliefsaboutbod-
ilyageing,withthelatterlargelyandunquestioninglyperceivedwithin
abiomedicalframework.
Thusthebodyoccupiesacentralplaceintheproblematisationofold
age.However,italsoplaysanambiguousroleinthestrategiesdescribed
Introduction ix
in the literature which ageing social actors have at their disposal to
manage their physicality. As we will see in Chapter 1, there is a tend-
ency to respond to bodily ageing by rejecting its salience. And yet,
according to Turner (2003), impending frailty is an inherent feature of
our ontological position. If this is the case, then ageing embodiment
cannot be sidelined and we need to attend sociologically to its social,
culturalandpersonalimplications.Indeedhowcanonerespondmean-
ingfullytotheontologicalunsettlingthatwouldcomefromincreasing
frailty?
The question is not aimed purely at individuals but must be set in a
widersocialandculturalcontext.Rejectingthebodytoprotectontolo-
gicalintegrityandmaintainculturalrelevanceisfraughtwithdangers.It
confirmsthattheageingbodyhasnovalue,thatitisdevoidofanykind
ofcapital.Andyet,assomeoftheliteratureisbeginningtouncover,age-
ingsocialactorsdomanagetheirbodiesandtheydosowithinspecific
structures–suchasdiscourses,institutions,economicconditions–which
variouslyopenuporrestricttherangeofbodyworkavailabletothem.
Insomesettings,suchasbeautysalonsorinthegym,peopleengagein
whatonemightcallactivebodyworkinanattempttorestorevalueto
what they perceive is diminishing capital. In other settings, such as in
nursinghomes,peopleengageinmorepassive–albeitnolesspowerful–
bodyworktocopewiththedepersonalisationandlossofindependence
arisingoutoftheroutinesofthesesettings.Thereforethebodyisalways
present and it is always used in some way by ageing social actors and
thosearoundthem.
This leads to another question: does the management of the ageing
body lead to meaningful change in the ontological position of older
people (at an individual level) and in their social status? As we shall
see, there is much danger in the strategies currently at the disposal of
ageing social actors to manage bodily ageing. The danger is that these
strategies,farfromrehabilitatingageing,wouldinfactreinforcetheneg-
ative position of older people; that is to say, they would leave the age
order undisturbed. Currently there is little in the literature which can
helpusfindawaytowardstherehabilitationofageingexperiencesand
provide a challenge to the diminished social location of people who
are becoming or have become old. Therefore I propose to turn to two
other areas of sociology which I think can supply much fruitful theor-
etical and conceptual tools to develop what I will hopefully convince
the reader is an innovative framework to make sense of contempor-
ary ageing experiences and to work out ways of challenging the age
order.