Elderly women and the experience of social exclusion (Case study: women living in nursing house of Khorramabad city)

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 MA of Sociology, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran.

2 Associate professor of sociology, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran.

Abstract

This qualitative research attempts to study the lived experiences of elderly women living in nursing houses of Khorramabad city in the field of social exclusion. To do this, we have used grounded theory to analyze the causal conditions, intervening conditions and consequences of elderly women’s lived experiences of social exclusion. The subjects were selected through purposeful sampling from the residents of Haj Seddique and Farzanegan nursing house. The data were gathered by way of deep semi-structured interview. The findings show that the causal conditions of social exclusions are: women’s lack of independent economic status (lack of financial support and loss of ability to work), decline of traditional solidarity in the family (decline of mothers’ authority, generational gap, the growth of individualism) and the transformation of lifestyles (transformation of home’s equipment, semantic change of family labor and the domination of gender bias). These are activated through some intervening conditions such as: extreme pessimism and feeling of loneliness. The first one is characterized by mistrust in society and internal vulnerability; and the second factor can be observed in nostalgia for a golden past and the feeling of being forgotten. It is in this way that they feel that they are dis-embedded from the life-world and thrown into the way of gradual death. So, they represent some symptoms such as silence/ aggressiveness, feeling of rootlessness and self-illness. Or, they believe in extreme fatalism and dying experiences.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

Alikarami, K., Maleki, A., Abdollahyan, H., & Rezaei, M. (2021). Phenomenology of the lived Experiences of Lonely aged Women from Abandonment and Rejection. Refah, 21(80), 245-274.          http://dorl.net/dor/20.1001.1.17358191.1400.21.80.8.9 (In Persian)
Barghi, H., & Ghanbari, Y. (2011). Analyzing the information technology role in developing rural life. Rahbord-e Yaas, 24, 135-45. (In Persian)
Bastani, S., Rahnama, F., & Ghazinejad, M. (2013). Social exclusion case: subjective and objective exclusion of Tehranian’s elderly. Quartelry of Social Studies and Research in Iran, 2(4), 599-626.    https://doi.org/10.22059/jisr.2013.52292 (In Persian)
Bazargan, R. (1991). Health facilities and welfare of elderly homes. Tehran: Tehran University of Medical Sciences. (In Persian)
Del Bono, E., Sala, E., Hancock, R., Gunnell, C., & Parisi, L. (2007). Gender Older People and Social Exclusion. A Genderd Review and Secondary Analysis of the Data, ISER Working Paper 2007-13, Colchester: University of Essex, pp. 1-105.
Fahmy, E. (2003). Civic capacity, social exclusion and political participation I Britain: Evidence from the 1999 Poverty and Social Exclusion Survey. Social Capital, 15, 17.
Firouzabadi, S. A., & Sadeghi, A. (2010). An investigation on the Dimensions of Social Exclusion of the Rural Female Household heads in terms of Employment and Residence. Woman in Development & Politics, 8(2), 93-114.
Ghodrati, S., Bahoosh, S., & Ghodrati, H. (2021)..Semantic Reconstruction of the Living Experience of Elderly Women from Quarantine during the Outbreak of Coronavirus Disease in Mashhad. Journal of Iranian Social Studies, 15(3), 76-100. https://doi.org/10.22034/jss.2021.250981 (In Persian)
Giddens, A, & Patrick, D. (2005). The new egalitarianism. Polity.
Lotfi Khachaki, T., Akbari, H., Kermani, M., & Imani Jajarmi, H. (2022). Constructing the Meaning of Social Exclusion among the Poor in Mashhad. Journal of Social Problems in Iran, 12(2), 221-238. http://dorl.net/dor/20.1001.1.24766933.1400.12.2.8.6 (In Persian)
Marshall, V., & Bengtson, V. (2011). Theoretical Perspectives on the Sociology of Aging. Handbook of Sociology of Aging, pp. 17-32.
McLaren, H., Rosalind, W., Karen, N., Nguyen, K., & Mahamadachchi, K. (2020) Covid-19 and Women’s Triple Burden: Vignettes from Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Vietnam and Australia. Social Sciences, 87, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci9050087
Muffels, R. J. A., & Fourage, D. (2002). ‘Do European Welfare Regimes Matter in Explaining Social Exclusion?’ PP. 202–235 in Social Exclusion in European Welfare States, edited by R. J. A. Muffels, P. Tsakloglou and D. G. Mayers. Cheltenham, Northampton: Edward Elgar.
Paleari, L., Malini, V., Paoli, G., Scillieri, S., Bighin, C., Blobel, B., & Giacomini, M. (2022). EU-Funded Telemedicine Projects–Assessment of, and Lessons Learned From, in the Light of the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic. Frontiers in Medicine, 9.         https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2022.849998
Riahi, M. E. (2008). A Comparative Study on the Status of Elderly In the Traditional and Modern Societies. Salmand: Iranian Journal of Ageing, 3(3-4), 10-21. http://salmandj.uswr.ac.ir/article-1-96-fa.html
Samaram, E. (1999). [The elderly’s situation and family (Persian)]. In: Hemati F, editor. Proceeding of the International Conference on Ageing. Tehran: Banovan-e Nikookar Publications. 11-29.
Sen, A. (2000). ‘Social Exclusion: Concept, Application, and Scrutiny.’ Social Development Papers No. 1. Manila: Asian Development Bank, Office of Environment and Social Development.       http://wwww.adb.org/Documents/Books
Silver, H. (1994). Social Exclusion and Social solidarity; Three paradigma. International Labour Review, 133(5-6), 518-531.
Tajmazinani, A. A., & Larijani, M. (2015). A Study of Factors Influencing Social Exclusion of the Elderly in Varamin City. Journal of Applied Sociology, 26(3), 57-74.          https://dorl.net/dor/20.1001.1.20085745.1394.26.3.4.2 (In Persian)
Urciuoli, O., Dello Buono, M., Padoani, W., & De Leo, D. (1998). Assessment of quality of life in the oldest-olds living in the nursing homes and homes, Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 6, 507-514.     https://doi.org/10.1016/S0167-4943(98)80074-5
Vrooman, C. (2008). Social exclusion of the elderly a comparative study of EU member states. Eneori Research Report, 57.            https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2027886
Weeks, D. (1994). A review of lonelines concepts with particular reference to old age. International Journal of Geriatric and Psychiatry, 9(5), 354-5.      https://doi.org/10.1002/gps.930090502
Woo, J., Ho, S. C., & Yu, A. L. M. (2002). Lifestyle factors and health outcome in elderly. Gerontology, 48, 234-40. https://doi.org/10.1159/000058356
Zokai, S. (2002). Theory and Method in Qualitative Research. Social Sciences, 9(17), 41-69.           https://dorl.net/dor/20.1001.1.17351162.1381.9.17.2.0 (In Persian)
Woman in Development & Politics
Volume 21, Issue 4
December 2023
Pages 999-1027

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics