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Lived Realities of Lonely Older People: Resisting Idealisations of ‘Home’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 April 2020

Alison Jarvis  and
Andrea Mountain
Alison Jarvis
Affiliation:
Teesside University, E-mail: [email protected]
Andrea Mountain
Affiliation:
Teesside University, E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

This article is based on research set up to explore temporal dimensions of loneliness amongst older people in a northern town. As the study progressed, spatial considerations and confinements emerged as a related and equally important feature. The article suggests that the ‘social sphere’ of lived reality, especially reality lived out in one confined space, is a prime candidate for what has been termed ‘de-familiarisation’. Social policy discourses focussed on ‘ageing in place’ can sometimes neglect the realities of older people’s circumstances, daily life and social contact. Central arguments put forward in the article are: that loneliness increases as spatial prospects recede; that ‘home’ can become a source of frustration and negativity rather than a source of solace and comfort; and that expanding and facilitating the social horizons of older people currently ‘confined’ to home should be prioritised within a genuinely age-friendly approach to social policy.

Keywords

lonelinessolder agehome
Type
Articles
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , January 2021 , pp. 1 - 16
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2020

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