Håkan Jönson
Professor
Baby boomers as future care users—An analysis of expectations in print media
Författare
Summary, in English
The aim of the study was to investigate media presentations of baby boomers as future care users. The Swedish baby boomer generation, born in the 1940s, and known as the '40s generation, has been characterized as youthful and powerful, and a question investigated in the study was whether boomers are supposed to display these characteristics as care users. We analyzed 481 articles in Swedish newspapers, published between 1995 and 2012, with a qualitative content analysis. The results showed that the '40s generation was predicted to become a new breed of demanding, self-aware care users. These claims were supported by descriptions of the formative events and typical characteristics of these individuals, which were then projected onto their future behavior as care users. Such projections tended to portray contemporary care users as passive, submissive, and partly responsible for problems associated with elder care. Consequently, approaches that focus on differences between cohorts need to incorporate a constructionist dimension to highlight the problem of generationism.
Avdelning/ar
- Socialhögskolan
Publiceringsår
2015
Språk
Engelska
Sidor
82-91
Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie
Journal of Aging Studies
Volym
34
Issue
Aug
Dokumenttyp
Artikel i tidskrift
Förlag
Elsevier
Ämne
- Other Social Sciences not elsewhere specified
Nyckelord
- generation
- eldercare
- age stratification theory
- baby boomers
- media images
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Övrigt
- ISSN: 0890-4065