A woman’s sell-by date : the experience of ageing amongst a group of women in Stellenbosch
| dc.contributor.advisor | Kritzinger, Andrienetta | en_ZA |
| dc.contributor.author | Crous, Marisa Ellen | en_ZA |
| dc.contributor.other | University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Sociology and Social Anthropology. | en_ZA |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2011-02-25T12:53:29Z | en_ZA |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2011-03-14T08:20:28Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2011-02-25T12:53:29Z | en_ZA |
| dc.date.available | 2011-03-14T08:20:28Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2011-03 | en_ZA |
| dc.description | Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. | |
| dc.description.abstract | Please refer to full text to view abstract. | en_ZA |
| dc.description.abstract | Using a qualitative approach, this case study explores what a selected group of white, middle-‐aged, Afrikaans-‐speaking, middle-‐class ‘women’ residing in Stellenbosch can reveal about South African society and its current construction of ‘ageing’. I follow the conceptualisations and theoretical understandings of Simone de Beauvoir, Karen Horney and Erik Erikson on the experience of middle age and ageing, and theorists such as Judith Butler, Adrienne Rich and Kathryn Pauly Morgan on gender and the beauty industry. In addition, I follow the theoretical understandings of Pierre Bourdieu to theoretically frame the habitus of this group of individuals, which represents a large part of this study. Based on semi-‐structured interviews, this study investigates the ‘experience of ageing’ and questions whether the study group’s experience constitutes a ‘sell-‐by date’ for them, branding them inadequate, to others and themselves, on a physical, psychological and social level. The participants’ adequacy or inadequacy is measured by the ‘male gaze’ – the conventional, gender-‐specific, patriarchal discourse followed by their habitus – or by their own conceptualisations of their future bodies. Based on the participants’ narratives, this study group is clearly positioned within a discourse that follows conventional, patriarchal thinking. The women’s thinking exposes a habitus which interpellates specific behaviour and leaves narrow parameters for free ‘choice’. They practise body alteration, conventional gender roles, experience happiness and regrets, and fear their future ‘dependent’ bodies – all within the boundaries of this habitus. The presentation of the ‘experience of ageing’ of individuals of a specific race, class, language, gender and locality does not only reveal their experience of ageing, but also shows concealed age, class, gender and race hierarchies that exist in the South African context. What becomes clear, to a degree, are the positions held by this group of women, mainly within their habitus, in terms of hierarchies in South Africa. This group’s habitus positions them, as middle-‐aged women, at the bottom of many social hierarchies by means of conventional stereotyping. Yet, they are situated at the top of many class hierarchies, within or potentially outside their habitus, where they have increased access to certain products, forms of leisure and care. Within the parameters of their habitus they are branded, by them and by others who have taught them how they should look and behave, when and how they should make certain ‘choices’, and how they should live in middle and old age. This group of participants is labelled as inadequate when they enter middle and old age, and this label marks them with a ‘sell-‐by date’. | |
| dc.description.abstract | Using a qualitative approach, this case study explores what a selected group of white, middle-‐aged, Afrikaans-‐speaking, middle-‐class ‘women’ residing in Stellenbosch can reveal about South African society and its current construction of ‘ageing’. I follow the conceptualisations and theoretical understandings of Simone de Beauvoir, Karen Horney and Erik Erikson on the experience of middle age and ageing, and theorists such as Judith Butler, Adrienne Rich and Kathryn Pauly Morgan on gender and the beauty industry. In addition, I follow the theoretical understandings of Pierre Bourdieu to theoretically frame the habitus of this group of individuals, which represents a large part of this study. Based on semi-‐structured interviews, this study investigates the ‘experience of ageing’ and questions whether the study group’s experience constitutes a ‘sell-‐by date’ for them, branding them inadequate, to others and themselves, on a physical, psychological and social level. The participants’ adequacy or inadequacy is measured by the ‘male gaze’ – the conventional, gender-‐specific, patriarchal discourse followed by their habitus – or by their own conceptualisations of their future bodies. Based on the participants’ narratives, this study group is clearly positioned within a discourse that follows conventional, patriarchal thinking. The women’s thinking exposes a habitus which interpellates specific behaviour and leaves narrow parameters for free ‘choice’. They practise body alteration, conventional gender roles, experience happiness and regrets, and fear their future ‘dependent’ bodies – all within the boundaries of this habitus. The presentation of the ‘experience of ageing’ of individuals of a specific race, class, language, gender and locality does not only reveal their experience of ageing, but also shows concealed age, class, gender and race hierarchies that exist in the South African context. What becomes clear, to a degree, are the positions held by this group of women, mainly within their habitus, in terms of hierarchies in South Africa. This group’s habitus positions them, as middle-‐aged women, at the bottom of many social hierarchies by means of conventional stereotyping. Yet, they are situated at the top of many class hierarchies, within or potentially outside their habitus, where they have increased access to certain products, forms of leisure and care. Within the parameters of their habitus they are branded, by them and by others who have taught them how they should look and behave, when and how they should make certain ‘choices’, and how they should live in middle and old age. This group of participants is labelled as inadequate when they enter middle and old age, and this label marks them with a ‘sell-‐by date’. | |
| dc.format.extent | 150 p. | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/6573 | |
| dc.language.iso | en_ZA | en_ZA |
| dc.publisher | Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch | en_ZA |
| dc.rights.holder | University of Stellenbosch | |
| dc.subject | Women -- Aging -- Social aspects -- South Africa -- Stellenbosch | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Habitus | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Ageing -- Public opinion | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Beauty | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Middle-aged women -- South Africa -- Stellenbosch | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Dissertations -- Sociology and social anthropology | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Theses -- Sociology and social anthropology | en_ZA |
| dc.title | A woman’s sell-by date : the experience of ageing amongst a group of women in Stellenbosch | en_ZA |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_ZA |