Leisure in Later Life (Leisure Studies in a Global Era)

✍ Scribed by Tania Wiseman

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2021
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 247
• Edition: 1st ed. 2021
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This book analyses leisure choice as a complex concept, made more complicated

in later life than at any other time. The author posits that there are many

unanswered questions about the new booming generation of healthy, older

people, and this book asks what it is really like to be old at the beginning of the

21st century in the United Kingdom, analysing leisure in older people in the

context of the subtle politics of the day to day.

Throughout the chapters, the author highlights the often missing depictions of

older people who enjoy and enact bold, informed agency as part of their everyday

lives. Drawing upon secondary data from the Mass Observation Archive, a social

thesis of leisure and ageing emerges that challenges the individualism inherent in

‘active ageing.’ It is proposed that the idea of ‘active ageing’ creates complex

constraints to leisure as people strive to measure up to cultural expectations. The

stories in this book advocate for an appreciation and re-evaluation of passive

leisure in later life, and the enjoyment and freedom it can bring.

The project is therefore useful to students and researchers of leisure studies,

gerontology and sociology of ageing.

✦ Table of Contents

Preface: Clearing the Ground
References
Acknowledgements
Archive Materials
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
1 Introduction to a New Ageing Population
1.1 New Ageing Population
1.2 They Do Not Really Plan Old Age, but It Happens Anyway
1.3 Good and Bad Leisure in Later Life
1.4 Active Ageing
1.5 Life Course Perspective
References
2 Constraints to Leisure in a Healthy Later Life
2.1 Development of Leisure Constraints Research
2.2 Leisure Constraints in Later Life Research
2.3 Culture in Leisure Constraints Research
2.4 Conclusions
References
3 Investigating Private Leisure Lives
3.1 Narrative Inquiry
3.2 Reflexivity
3.3 Sustainable Research Methods
3.4 The Mass Observation Archive
3.5 Respecting the Genesis of the Data
3.6 Strengths and Limitations of the Mass Observation Archive as the Resource for This Research
3.7 Ethical Considerations
References
4 Navigating Archives, Going Native and Falling in Love with 26 New People
4.1 Choosing Suitable Materials to Analyse
4.2 Participant Selection
4.3 Introducing the Correspondents
4.4 Getting to Know Them a Little Better
4.4.1 Overview
4.5 Thematic Analysis of Narrative
References
5 Negotiating Leisure Lives in a Culture of Active Ageing
5.1 Windows on the World
5.1.1 A Pleasant Couple of Hours in Good Company
5.1.2 Other People’s Fun
5.1.3 Reminiscence Was a Joy
5.1.3.1 I Was Honoured
5.2 No Great Virtue in All This Active Ageing
5.3 His Lordship Goes off to Work
5.3.1 A Balance Is Struck
5.3.2 Discord as Work Trumps Leisure
5.4 Other Old People: ‘Active Wife’ to ‘Intrepid Courageous Lady’
5.5 A Social Thesis of Leisure in Later Life
References
6 Freedom and Belonging in Everyday Leisure Lives
6.1 The Correspondents
6.2 Windows on the World
6.3 A Pleasant Couple of Hours in Good Company
6.4 Other People’s Fun
6.5 Reminiscence Was a Joy
6.6 I Was Honoured
6.7 No Great Virtue in All This Active Ageing
6.8 Active Ageing
6.9 Impact of Health Promotion on Health Advice
6.10 Work and Leisure
6.11 Disengagement and Active Ageing
References
7 A Social Thesis of Leisure
7.1 Findings
7.1.1 Windows on the World
7.1.2 No Great Virtue…
7.1.3 His Lordship Goes Off to Work
7.1.4 Other Old People
7.2 Analytical Findings
7.3 Contribution to Knowledge
7.4 Plans for Further Research
7.5 Further Research Suggestions
References
Index