Abstract
This paper discusses the potential that coping with ageing experiences in later life might have for dealing with the current Covid-19-pandemic. The paper is based on the results of a qualitative study on subjective ageing experiences and the respective coping strategies of older people. The study is based on subject-obnderlying social structures. (e.g. BMBF, 2010). A qualitative research design was developed using the method of group discussions. The data gathered in these discussions were evaluated based on the approach of grounded theory. The results of this study are discussed regarding the ways in which the coping strategies of the participants revealed the specific abilities of older people to manage crisis experiences. The findings offer new perspectives on improving current images of ageing.
Highlights
Learning and crises can be examined critically in relation to developments in the physical world, such as those we are currently experiencing across the globe
This crisis has revealed the fundamental structures of recognition on which these exclusionary tendencies are based, as well as the ways in which social structures are linked to anthropological conditions of existence, such as the finiteness of human life
Ageing was perceived as a creeping process. It could only be experienced in unexpected or crisis-like disruptions, which was emphasised by the participants as an irrevocable determination of ageing
Summary
The current situation can be seen as an age-specific crisis. As human beings, we become aware of the anthropological condition of the finiteness of life and its effects. There has been the threat of the regression to negative images of ageing in which older people are ascribed a special role that promotes cultural exclusion (Kulmus, 2019; Kneale, 2012; Schmidt-Hertha, 2019; Walsh et al, 2017; Bursell, 2019) This crisis has revealed the fundamental structures of recognition on which these exclusionary tendencies are based, as well as the ways in which social structures are linked to anthropological conditions of existence, such as the finiteness of human life. Based on the theoretical background of learning as a way of dealing with fracture and crisis experiences on one hand and social structures of recognition on the other hand, a qualitative study on ageing and learning was conducted from 2013–2017 in Berlin, Germany (deleted for anonymity). Allows for Communication of Older People with Each Other about their Ageing Experiences
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