"On the Separatin' Place": Social Class and Relocation Among Older Women

Abstract

Despite the interest in the relocation experiences of the elderly, little research has focused on the meanings of relocation. Using intensive interviews with 40 women who had relocated to facilities for the elderly, this essay demonstrates substantial variation in experiences of relocation along class lines. Middle class women were likely to have moved from homes that they had ozwned and lived in for many years. Having strong attachments to place, they coped with relocation by making their new rooms into museums of their lives. Lower class women were likely to have moved many times in their lives and were unlikely to have ozwned their own homes. Moving into a facility for the elderly was experienced as one in a long succession of moves, distinguished only by increased comfort and security. Working class women were likely to begin a downward spiral after widowhood or divorce. Moving into a facility for the elderly stopped the succession of moves to progressively smaller and less comfortable residences. In commenting on Max Weber's key concept of chances, Dahrendorf (1979) argues that we must pay attention to both words-the life of individual experiences and the of social structures that mold those experiences. As Weber ([1922] 1968) noted, social class is one of the main characteristics of social structures affecting the chances of individuals. Using occupational prestige scales and large data sets, sociologists have well-documented the ways social class affects income, wealth, and mobility rates. Less well-documented are the ways class-related experiences shape the courses of individual biographies, particularly in the later phases of life. The following paper explores the individual biographies of older women who have relocated into facilities for the elderly. This experi