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From Cultures of Ageing to Cultures
of Action: Resilient Citizenship of
Older People under Ireland’s
Austerity Programme
Dr. Gemma Carney, Lecturer in Social Policy and Ageing,
School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work,
Queen’s University Belfast
Christine de Largy, MA, Irish Centre for Social
Gerontology, NUI Galway.
Our Book….
With Kieran Walsh and Aine Ni Leime….
Ageing through Austerity: critical perspectives from Ireland
Policy Press, 2015.
Aims of the Paper
• Interested in citizenship and ageing – relationship between
civil, political and social rights.
• What role does political culture play in facilitating intergenerational conflict or solidarity?
• What does the experience of ageing through austerity tell us
about the potential for inter-generational conflict?
Paper outline
• Citizenship and ageing – connecting collective organisation
and longevity
• What is political culture?
• Public debates on ageing and national culture
• Ireland under austerity
• What accounts for resilience of pension(ers) in Ireland?
• Conclusion: ageism, intergenerational solidarity and the
micro-macro tension.
Citizenship and Ageing
‘Early political organisation was based on the realisation that
without some form of collective organisation, we would
experience life only as individuals living in a Hobbesian ‘State of
Nature’ where life is ‘continual fear, and danger of violent death,
and the life of man solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short’
(Hobbes, 1640/1994).
By the end of the 20th century we had achieved enough peace,
security and freedom to produce a welfare state that is at least
in part responsible for good public healthcare that contributes to
longevity.
What is political culture?
• Political Science 101 definition is that political culture refers
to the Civic Culture (Almond and Verba, 1963):
– A person’s national identity
– Attitudes towards oneself as a political animal
– Attitudes towards fellow citizens
– Attitudes towards government performance
– Attitudes towards and knowledge of the political system.
What is political culture?
‘Social scientists need a taxonomy of cultural possibilities in
order to understand whether challenges to a culture will create
new cognitive structure or mere cultural shifts within the same
cognitive structure. For example, in what way is the new Soviet
political culture simply old autocratic wine in new Communist
bottles, as theorists of Soviet political culture have asked?’
(Chilton, 1988: 445).
Public Debate and National Culture
• US – ‘greedy geezers and the medicare burden’ (ABC news
2009).
– Regina Herzlinger, Harvard Business school – ‘medicare
means seniors are stealing from the young’
• UK – ‘The Pinch’
– David Willets (2010) claims that the boomers have stolen
their children’s future
Ireland in Global Political Economy
• Post-colonial state on
European Periphery
• Population of 4.6m
• European membership:
– EEC 1973
– Eurozone 2000
• Globalisation:
– Foreign Direct Investment
Austerity as a response to economic collapse
• Celtic Tiger post 2008
- GDP -4.1% in 2010
- Unemployment (high of
14%)
- Surge in emigration of
young people
- EU-IMF bailout
austerity programme
Pensioners Protest, Dublin 2008
Social Policy for Older People in Austerity
– Pension has been maintained, though indirect benefits
have been cut.
– Income tax increases via universal social charge.
– Support for pension maintained at societal level (Irish
Times, 2013).
Emerging Narratives in Ireland
Resilience of Pension
• Political culture in Ireland is not one of protest
• Protest of older people shocked politicians, moving them
from ‘dependent’ to ‘advantaged’ status relative to other
target populations.
• Crucial to the success of their protest was their support from
younger cohorts and other influential groups (Irish Medical
Organisation).
Conclusion
• Solidarity at individual and family levels is translated to
macro-level support for pensioners.
• Levels of inter-generational solidarity will become
increasingly important.
• Ageism in public debate must be highlighted and condemned
regardless of resource allocation.