Open AccessSocial exclusion of older people in rural areas during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Karelia
Author(s) -
Konstantin Galkin
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
vestnik instituta sociologii
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2221-1616
DOI - 10.19181/vis.2021.12.4.760
Subject(s) - social exclusion , social isolation , thematic analysis , sociology , perception , everyday life , pandemic , identification (biology) , elderly people , isolation (microbiology) , social integration , covid-19 , qualitative research , psychology , gerontology , political science , social science , medicine , disease , botany , microbiology and biotechnology , pathology , neuroscience , infectious disease (medical specialty) , law , psychotherapist , biology , anthropology
The article discusses the issue of social exclusion of elderly people in rural areas during the COVID-19 pandemic. The author relies on the concept that defines social exclusion as a mechanism for separating a certain group of people from an integral community. Using the example of several respondents, the article examines the effects that social exclusion of elderly people creates in rural areas, as well as possible ways of their adaptation that can minimise it.The empirical basis of the work is collected by the author 20 semi-structured interviews with elderly people living in rural areas in the Republic of Karelia and 20 diaries of their observations. When analysing interviews and diaries, a thematic method was used. The main result of the study is the identification of various fears and characteristics of the perception of social exclusion as a condition associated with changes in the habitual everyday life, as well as the lifestyle of respondents due to isolation.The main conclusion highlights the various fears presented in the perceptions of social exclusion by elderly people associated with changes in the usual everyday life due to isolation.The study also identifies the most effective ways for adaptation of elderly people to minimise their social exclusion: expanding communication with neighbours, translating communication into digital format. The data obtained by the author also allow us to draw a conclusion about changes in the sociological consideration of ageing. It becomes not a state of inclusiveness and activity, integration of elderly people into society, as modern concepts and approaches denote it (for example, the concept of active longevity), but a state that is primarily determined by physical weakness. The need for isolation, as well as limitation of activity, is becoming a forced measure that negatively affects older people and the characteristics of their perception of their age and the situation of a pandemic. This work contributes to the latest research into the understanding of ageing in the context of forced social exclusion in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic.