Abstract
This paper explores how elderly residents’ discursive participation is promoted through the local community in one Finnish municipality. It introduces the case of the Elderly People’s Forum as an interesting example of a self-initiated, informal participatory forum that has established a role in local governance and continuously inspires the wide discursive participation of elderly residents in public discussions. Drawing on the concept of discursive participation, which includes talk in informal settings about matters of common interest as a measure of civic engagement, I argue that by acknowledging the deliberative potential of self-initiated civil society forums, local governance can enhance residents’ ongoing participation and possibilities to exert influence.
Highlights
IntroductionThe Elderly People’s Forum began following one retiree’s idea of having informal discussions over a cup of coffee on current topics related to community life and elderly people’s interests
The Elderly People’s Forum began following one retiree’s idea of having informal discussions over a cup of coffee on current topics related to community life and elderly people’s interests. This retiree published an announcement in a local newspaper and a few fellow retirees gathered at a local café in the small rural municipality of Säkylä, Western Finland
The Elderly People’s Forum has proved to be an important participatory forum for elderly residents to meet, learn about others’ life situations, identify shared concerns, and get their views heard in local decisionmaking
Summary
The Elderly People’s Forum began following one retiree’s idea of having informal discussions over a cup of coffee on current topics related to community life and elderly people’s interests. It has been suggested that, while formal top-down participatory forums are often issue-specific, initiated by authorities, and based on a sample of participants brought together for one occasion only (Dryzek & Niemeyer, 2008), discursive participation and informal public discussions in different arenas of the civil society may foster more ongoing, and inclusive participation, in addition to creating self-managed discussions that bring new issues to the table while requiring fewer resources to reach participants (Dodge, 2009, 2010, 2015; Fischer, 2006; HartzKarp & Sullivan, 2014; Levine & Nierras, 2007) In relation to these arguments, the Elderly People’s Forum provides an interesting example of an informal forum that continuously inspires wide participation and engages elderly residents in discursive action. Following some reflections on the theoretical viewpoints of discursive participation, it describes how this specific forum enhances ongoing citizen engagement and addresses the issues of inclusiveness, representativeness, and the process of mediating residents’ views in decision-making and practice
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