Social Class and Ageing Bodies: Understanding Physical Activity in Later Life

Abstract

In most Western societies, chronic illness is an increasingly important health issue among older populations. In response, public health agencies have advocated physical activity as a strategy to improve the quality of life of older adults. At present, little is known about the processes that lead to an active or sedentary lifestyle in later life. This study is based on an analysis of data collected for a broader Canadian study on older women, physical activity and health. This paper examines dispositions to adopt physical activity across three periods in life (youth, adulthood and later life) of two groups of older women in highly contrasting living conditions. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu's socio-cultural theory of practice, this qualitative analysis of 51 interviews revealed that social and biological living conditions must be taken into account to understand the fashioning of health dispositions. A major finding was that although dispositions towards physical activity differed greatly between the two groups during youth and adulthood, they tended to be more alike in the later phase of life. Bourdieu's theory was useful both in understanding how social class and age are important structuring principles of health behaviour in later life, and in conceptualizing the shifting effects of structural inequalities on health dispositions in life.