Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T02:22:40.192Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

‘All elderly people have important service needs’: a study of discourses on older people in parliamentary discussions in Finland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 September 2014

JUTTA PULKKI  and
LIINA-KAISA TYNKKYNEN
JUTTA PULKKI*
Affiliation:
School of Health Sciences, University of Tampere, Finland. Gerontology Research Centre, GEREC, Tampere, Finland.
LIINA-KAISA TYNKKYNEN
Affiliation:
School of Health Sciences, University of Tampere, Finland.
*
Address for correspondence: Jutta Pulkki, School of Health Sciences, FI-33014, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland. E-mail: Jutta.Pulkki@uta.fi
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study examines discursive constructions of older people by analysing the talk of members of parliament in parliamentary discussions in Finland. While the perceptions of older people that are constructed in various public and private arenas have been relatively widely examined, the talk of political decision makers has not been studied to any large extent. However, decision makers' understandings of older people are likely to influence the ways in which service systems are developed and services organised for older people. The parliamentary discussions examined in this study were related to the process of enacting legislation to secure services for older people. Using discourse analysis, three ways of constructing older people – as ‘the dependent’, ‘the active’ and ‘the deserving’ – are identified. Although the results are to some extent in accordance with previous findings, indicating that older people are constructed as either totally dependent and passive or extremely active, this study also breaks this dichotomous view and highlights the overlap between those constructions. Nonetheless, the picture of older people remains fairly one-dimensional. There was an absence of recognition of diversity among older people, which might inhibit the development of a customer-oriented service system.

Keywords

discoursesmembers of parliamentlegislation for older peopleFinlanddiscourse analysis
Type
Articles
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 36 , Issue 1 , January 2016 , pp. 64 - 78
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anttonen, A. and Häikiö, L. 2011. Care ‘going market’: Finnish elderly-care policies in transition. Nordic Journal of Social Research, 2, 1–21.Google Scholar
Baltes, P. and Smith, J. 2003. New frontiers in the future of aging: from successful aging of the young old to the dilemmas of the fourth age. Gerontology, 49, 2, 123–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biggs, S. 2001. Toward critical narrativity. Stories of aging in contemporary social policy. Journal of Aging Studies, 15, 4, 303–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradley, D. and Longino, C. 2001. How old people think about images of aging in advertising and the media. Generation, 25, 3, 17–21.Google Scholar
Carney, G. M. 2010. Citizenship and structured dependency: the implication of policy design for senior political power. Ageing & Society, 30, 2, 229–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carrigan, M. and Szmigin, I. 2000. Advertising in an ageing society. Ageing & Society, 20, 1, 217–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fealy, G., McNamara, M., Treacy, M. and Lyons, I. 2012. Constructing ageing and age identities: a case study of newspaper discourses. Ageing & Society, 32, 1, 85–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gee, E. 2002. Misconceptions and misapprehensions about population ageing. International Journal of Epidemiology, 31, 750–3.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gilleard, C. and Higgs, P. 1998. Old people as users and consumers of healthcare: a third age rhetoric for a fourth age reality? Ageing & Society, 18, 2, 233–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Häikiö, L., van Aerschot, L. and Anttonen, A. 2011. Vastuullinen ja valitseva kansalainen: vanhushoivapolitiikan uusi suunta. [Responsible citizens making free choices: the new direction of elder care policies in Finland.] Yhteiskuntapolitiikka, 76, 3, 239–50.Google Scholar
Hendricks, J. 2004. Public policies and old age identity. Journal of Aging Studies, 18, 3, 245–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johansson, E. 2010. The Long-term Care System for the Elderly in Finland. ENEPRI Research Report 76. Available online at http://www.ancien-longtermcare.eu/node/27 [Accessed 20 October 2013].Google Scholar
Jolanki, O. 2009. Fate or Choice? Talking About Old Age and Health. Acta Universitatis Tamperensis 1434, Tampere University Press, Tampere, Finland.Google Scholar
Jolanki, O., Jylhä, M. and Hervonen, A. 2000. Old age as a choice and as a necessity. Two interpretative repertoires. Journal of Ageing Studies, 14, 4, 359–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joy, J. and Fong, C. 2000. The older adult: a comparison of long-term care in Glasgow and San Francisco. International Council Review, 47, 3, 157–66.Google ScholarPubMed
Lumme-Sandt, K. 2011. Images of ageing in a 50+ magazine. Journal of Aging Studies, 25, 1, 45–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ministry of Social Affairs and Health 2008. Ikäihmisten palvelujen laatusuositus. Sosiaali- ja terveysministeriön julkaisuja 2008:3. Available online at http://www.stm.fi/julkaisut/nayta/-/_julkaisu/1063089 [Accessed 27 March 2014].Google Scholar
Ministry of Social Affairs and Health 2012. Press Release 235/2012. Available online at http://www.stm.fi/en/pressreleases/pressrelease/-/view/1847332#en [Accessed 14 October 2013].Google Scholar
Nilsson, M. 2008. Våra äldre. Om konstruktioner av äldre i offentligheten. Doktorsavhandling, Linköping Studies in Arts and Science 450, Linköpings Universitet, Linköping, Sweden.Google Scholar
Potter, J. and Hepburn, A. 2008. Discursive constructionism. In Holstein, J. A. and Gubrium, J. F. (eds), Handbook of Constructionist Research. Guildford, New York, 275–93.Google Scholar
Robertson, A. 1997. Beyond apocalyptic demography: towards a moral economy of interdependency. Ageing & Society, 17, 4, 425–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rudman, D. L. 2006. Shaping the active, autonomous and responsible modern retiree: an analysis of discursive technologies and their links with neo-liberal political rationality. Ageing & Society, 26, 2, 181–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneider, A. and Ingram, H. 1993. The social construction of target populations: implications for politics and policy. American Political Science Review, 87, 2, 334–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Townsend, P. 1981. The structured dependency of the elderly: a creation of social policy in the twentieth century. Ageing & Society, 1, 1, 5–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tynkkynen, L.-K., Hakari, K., Koistinen, T., Lehto, J. and Miettinen, S. 2012. Integrating public and private home care services: the Kotitori model in Tampere, Finland. Journal of Integrated Care, 20, 5, 284–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weicht, B. 2013. The making of ‘the elderly’: constructing the subject of care. Journal of Aging Studies, 27, 2, 188–97.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wetherell, M. and Potter, J. 1992. Mapping the Language of Racism. Discourse and the Legitimation of Exploitation. Columbia University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Wiles, J. L. and Jayasinha, R. 2013. Care for place: the contributions older people make to their community. Journal of Aging Studies, 27, 2, 93–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wodak, R. and Meyer, M. (eds) 2009. Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis. Second edition, Sage, London.Google Scholar