The reflexive imperative and the third age

Applications are being sought for a prestigious (1+3 or +3) full time PhD Studentship, to be based in the Cardiff School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University, to begin in October 2013.

Project Focus:
In recent years, theoretical and empirical research has led to claims that contemporary conditions are leading to increasing reflexivity. In this work, later life has been largely neglected; despite recognition that the experience of ageing has been transformed with some scholars identifying a long ‘third age’. This raises questions about the extent to which reflexivity applies to later life and/or whether it is experienced in different ways in old age. This project will examine modes of reflexivity in later life by; (i) reviewing theoretical approaches to the concept of reflexivity and how these relate to later life (ii) adopting Margaret Archer’s four modes of reflexivity (communicative, autonomous, meta and fractured) as a framework for understanding potential orientations towards action and wider social relations in the third age (iii) examine empirically a number of key areas where ageing and reflexivity now intersect and where the outcomes transform both ageing and its social coordinates (including health, wellbeing and social participation in the third age). This will be done by means of a survey and in-depth interviews of people aged 50+ living in Wales using Archer’s ICONI scale as a sampling mechanism and through secondary analysis of categorical data in existing Welsh surveys.

Information about the School: Cardiff School of Social Sciences is a large School with over 160 staff and a thousand undergraduate and postgraduate students. The 2008 Research Assessment Exercise rated almost all of its research to be of an international standard, with 55% of it either “world leading” or “internationally excellent”. This rating, together with the size of the School, places it amongst the top five centres in the UK. Since its creation in 2000, the School has attracted over £18 million of research funds.

Cardiff University the home of the ESRC Wales Doctoral Training Centre, part of a national network of 21 accredited Doctoral Training Centres across the UK judged by the ESRC to deliver truly excellent postgraduate training provision.