Being An Older Woman

<p>The study presented in this volume examines how older women's identities are socially constructed and in particular how they can be influenced by institutional intervention. The interest in identity production is not only theoretical but also practical. Different perceptions of oneself as an older woman involve considerable differences in the definition of that person's possible sphere of action and therefore in her life perspectives. The data -- collected during a four-year project studying older women -- consist of video recordings of the committee meetings of the Older Women's Group of Perugia Italy. Other video recordings of theater workshops and of the management committee meetings of the Senior Citizen Centers in Perugia are used as a source of comparison. Transcripts of the video material are analyzed through a detailed discourse analysis within an ethnomethodological framework. The data are used to explore how gender and age identities are interactionally constructed in specific institutional contexts. <br><br> The first part of the book focuses on the interactional construction of aging. It shows how being old is constructed conversationally in particular through the use of membership categories. Distancing from the category old and denial of aging are frequently encountered conversational moves. However the category is perceived as acceptable even desired and invoked when it becomes an institutionally relevant category giving access to interesting activities or special benefits. The second part of the book explores gender identification. Conflict among different institutional subjects is shown to fade into gender conflict. The study analyzes how institutional interventions exert a powerful influence on older women's identities giving them new opportunities for action. It also looks at how the conversational styles attitudes and activities of specific women influence the features of those very institutions.<br><br> In short this book describes the discourse and social practices that constitute older women's identities -- helping to identify and deconstruct stereotypes that tend to produce marginalization of older people. The book's existence is itself a contribution to the construction of older women as busy lively appealing human beings; it is the first research publication to emerge from The European Older Women's Project.<br><br> Of interest to those in any discipline studying the topics of ethnomethodology gender aging and identity.</p>