Residing in communal senior housing

Situating the ageing self within debates of the universal welfare state

Bibliographic Data

ID11200993
AuthorsPaula Vasara (0000-0002-5209-7495, Tampere University, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume44
Issue9
Pages2015-2037
Publication date2024-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAgeing and Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0144-686X • E-ISSN: 1469-1779
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0144686x22001167
OpenAlexW4304842721
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited33

Currently, Nordic welfare societies are at a crossroads. Ongoing demographic changes – such as ageing, accompanied by challenges in financing adequate services for all – have highlighted the need to consider the roles of citizens and the state in a novel way. Balancing rights and responsibilities has always been at the core of universalism, even though, traditionally, trust in the welfare state's ability to fulfil its basic function of providing necessary services for all has been strong. However, of late, subtle signs of change have become more visible, and in practice, older people's housing and care provisions have been marked by the state's withdrawal. By employing narrative analysis, this study explores, through the experiences of residents in age-related intermediate housing, how older people make use of, negotiate and embed the arguments being made in societal debates on the rights and responsibilities of ageing citizens. The accounts showcase the ways in which these narrators are able to accommodate the sometimes contradictory elements in their narration, accept the demand for increased responsibility for their later-life arrangements and construct plausible portraits of themselves as morally responsible citizens. These subtle negotiations and the acceptance of personal responsibility indicate a change in their perceptions of and expectations from the citizens and the state. Whilst the findings comprise stories of good outcomes, they also question the legitimacy of the current welfare system's universalism and its ability to guide the way to achieve equally good outcomes for all in the future

Legitimacy · Negotiation · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Sociology · State (computer science) · Universalism · Welfare · Welfare state · Aging and Gerontology Research · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Law · Migration, Aging, and Tourism Studies

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