THE BODY AS A FIELD OF SOCIAL POWER AND RECONSTRUCTION OF AGING BODY


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Timurturkan M., Demez G.

JOURNAL OF MEHMET AKIF ERSOY UNIVERSITY ECONOMICS AND ADMINISTRATIVE SCIENCES FACULTY, cilt.5, sa.2, ss.441-456, 2018 (ESCI) identifier

Özet

Aging, which is among the normal cycles of human life, is in our day perceived as a social problem to be avoided and therefore to be kept back. This situation draws attention to the social dimension of the old age. Because what defines aging and places it in a disadvantaged space in the social hierarchy is the dominant values that determine the relations of power in a given society. In this context, body politics and the position of the body within the consumer society as a consumption field also become significant. This study, which is based on that aspect, regards aging and old age in today's consumer society as a new manner of discrimination that excludes them first as they cannot take part in active working life. Then, the concept of old age, which is included in consumption connections as a consumer, is questioned. In short, this study is based on the market economy oriented discussion of practices about old age which is defined in the social field as a loss of power and the meanings attributed to old age within the social power relations.