Spending time: the discursive construction of leisure in later life

Abstract

ABSTRACTHealthy ageing is encapsulated in policy prescriptions for ‘active’ ageing, which include expectations around active leisure. Focusing on healthy ageing has been critiqued for oppressing older people who cannot meet ideals of physical activity and for neglecting leisure as enjoyment. To understand leisure in later life, we analysed the ways older people talk about spending time. In-depth interviews with 153 older people provided the data for this discourse analysis. Two discourses were identified: leisure as productive time and leisure as personal time. Leisure as productive time links leisure time activity to the maintenance of health and a valued social identity as an actively ageing citizen. Leisure was also constructed as personal time, in which older age is the time to prioritize enjoyment and focus on pleasure foregone in earlier life. Discourses of leisure as productive potentially crowd out the experience of enjoyment as a valued pursuit in its own right.