Forms of address, discourse and aging

Abstract

The present article examines how forms of address figure in the lives of older people. From the perspective of discursive psychology (e.g., Edwards and Potter 1992; Potter and Wetherell 1987), we consider a number of samples of address exchange and show how forms of address may be used to enhance and diminish status and solidarity and to construct social identities for the older person. We examine the relationship of address forms to features of institutions and of institutional practices, to divergent interests of participants, to constructions of the nature of aging and to problems of politeness. The notion of symbiotic power is proposed as a way of reconceptualizing the powerlessness and dependence associated with aging. We consider how the realization of that power through the strategic deployment of forms of address by older people can help to maintain status and the integrity of self.