Aging and Identity Management in a Norwegian Elderly Home

Abstract

In this paper, I present some aspects of the residents' situation in an elderly home in Norway. The aim is to give an empirical example of how a group of aged people, living in a setting dominated by the consequences of advanced age, try to make sense of their lives through continued efforts to establish a positive self-image and personal identity, in face of both their own and their co-residents' declining health and death. In spite of the objectives set forth by the Ministry of Social Affairs, the life in an elderly home poses various restraints on the residents' adaptation patterns and identity management. However, the residents do not passively accept their situation, but continuously seek solutions to the dilemmas with which they are confronted. They do this by both adapting in special ways and constantly producing justifications for and interpretations of their own behavior and that of others. Within the constraints posed by the institutional setting, the physical and social environment, they establish their own social organization and create a “universe of meaning” which enables them to maintain aspects of their own identity and self-respect, and their worth as human beings. I suggest that this paper lends weight to Berreman's claims that people who find themselves in inferior/stigmatized situations Furthermore, a core element in my interpretation of the process of identity management is the factor of motivation, that is, motivation for self-confirmation. Robbins holds that the factor of motivation accounts for many aspects of social and cutural processes: In other words, I try to show how the various adaptation patterns are made relevant for the residents' evaluation and codification of behavior, and for their categorization of each other (Bateson, 1972). The sets of categories that are established may be interpreted as a continuous communication regarding the direct and indirect implication of the aging process. Such an approach, starting out with the adaptation patterns of the residents and their interpretations of these, demonstrates how one may reach an understanding of important aspects of the aging process and the dilemmas of the aged in our society.