Promoting the political inclusion and participation of older people: Social, psychological and institutional perspectives

Abstract

Building on an innovative analytical framework that acknowledges that political participation is influenced by individual, symbolic and institutional factors, Moreira and Barslund discuss a new set of insights on the factors that influence older people’s civic engagement, namely, the decrease in participation in later life does not signify a withdrawal from public life, but instead reflects the disengagement of employment-related organisations as individuals retire; print media plays a role in the (re)producing norms about how seniors should behave in society; perceived violations of these norms strengthen negative stereotypes of seniors; seniors are mostly involved at the decision-making level of policy-making, and mostly on a consultative basis-involvement in decisions concerning the implementation of services is rare.