Centre for Policy on Ageing
 

 

Perceptions and presentations of living with everyday risk in later life
Author(s)Joanna Bornat, Bill Bytheway
Journal titleBritish Journal of Social Work, vol 40, no 4, June 2010
Pagespp 1118-1134
Sourcehttp://bjsw.oxfordjournals.org doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bcq001
KeywordsAt risk ; Rights [elderly] ; Attitude ; Social work ; Social policy ; Qualitative Studies.
AnnotationIn a context of neo-liberalism, individual responsibility for risk and the protection of individuals from risk has led to risk management and assessment becoming central to the practice of social work. Social workers' involvement with older people tends to occur in crisis situations, with the result that stereotypical understandings of the vulnerability of older people may be reinforced. Drawing on data from interviews and diaries, the article presents a temporal analysis of the ways in which perceptions of risk are presented by older people themselves and the people close to them. It reveals how older people link risk to family, health and social relations, and how they account for their continuing survival. In interviews, older people present their lives as well ordered and organised. By contrast, diaries that detail their everyday activities offer evidence of a more active engagement in risk avoidance, suggesting that living with everyday risk is a salient feature of late life. Integrating these two temporal framings, the authors argue for a more processual understanding of risk in later life and how it is evaluated and experienced by older people. (KJ/RH).
Accession NumberCPA-100827201 A
ClassmarkCA3: IKR: DP: IG: TM2: 3DP

Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing

...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.
 

CPA home >> Ageinfo Database >> Last modified: Fri 21 Sep 2018, © CPA 2018 Queries to: webmaster@cpa.org.uk