Politically active at 80: challenging the decline and deficit model of older citizens
Sue Nieland
Little is known about the political decision-making of the UK’s Silent Generation (born between 1927 and 1946 and currently aged between 75 and 93 years) as a result of aggregated polling data into the 65+ category, a category into which this generation centrally fit alongside citizens who may be older or younger by between 10 and 25 years. With a lifetime of diverse lived experiences that encompass post-World War II, further conflicts with political implications that include the UK’s involvement in Iraq, and a movement towards and away from Europe, this socio-historical cohort is un-researched unless the concern lies with deficit and diminishing social value. Typically research into older citizens focuses very much on a decline and deficit model, with divisions into third and fourth age, value-laden categories that reflect acceptable active ageing behaviours, but frown upon the reduction of economic and societal contributions.
Dialogical analysis of data collection in 2020 from 14 Silent Generation participants reveals how their lived experiences involve a range of social representations, aligned to dominant political narratives over time, and their influence on political decision making. Chronotopic (time-space) analysis reveals the influence of events, which include politically motivated actions leading to the Iraq war, on political allegiances and subsequent voting decisions. Lifelong commitments to political ideology and party affiliation, sometimes with intergenerational origins, can change, demonstrating how political decisions are relational, situated and aligned to dominant social representations.
Sue Nieland is a full-time member of the academic staff in the School of Psychology and Counselling at the Open University. She is also working on her PhD with Dr Kesi Mahendran and Professor Sarah Crafter in the field of political psychology, using a dialogical approach to explore the political decision-making of the UK’s oldest citizens, the Silent Generation.