Abstract
This paper is a contribution to the developing understanding of social
relationships in institutional care settings. It focuses on two areas that have
been neglected in research: the reasons for and types of social interaction in
institutional settings, and the ways in which the context of people’s lives shapes
social interaction. The paper draws on ethnographic observations conducted
in four care settings in Scotland using a symbolic interactionist perspective. It
finds that residents communicate and interact, and that the personal, cultural and
structural contexts frame social interaction and influence the ways that residents
use humour, express sexuality, and show hostility. The paper concludes that
residents create social interactions in which action is embedded, but do so within
specific structural and cultural contexts. These contexts ‘control’ resident action
by establishing frameworks for the interpretation of meaning. At the same time,
each facet of context is ‘controlled’ by the ways in which residents actively take on the ‘ role’ of others, and project ‘ self’ and a ‘label’
relationships in institutional care settings. It focuses on two areas that have
been neglected in research: the reasons for and types of social interaction in
institutional settings, and the ways in which the context of people’s lives shapes
social interaction. The paper draws on ethnographic observations conducted
in four care settings in Scotland using a symbolic interactionist perspective. It
finds that residents communicate and interact, and that the personal, cultural and
structural contexts frame social interaction and influence the ways that residents
use humour, express sexuality, and show hostility. The paper concludes that
residents create social interactions in which action is embedded, but do so within
specific structural and cultural contexts. These contexts ‘control’ resident action
by establishing frameworks for the interpretation of meaning. At the same time,
each facet of context is ‘controlled’ by the ways in which residents actively take on the ‘ role’ of others, and project ‘ self’ and a ‘label’
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 99 - 114 |
Number of pages | 16 |
Journal | Ageing and Society |
Volume | 23 |
Issue number | 1 |
Early online date | 27 Jan 2003 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jan 2003 |
Keywords
- older people
- social interaction
- institutional care settings
- Scotland