Digital Ageism

This anthology contributes to creating awareness on how digital ageism operates in relation to the widely spread symbolic representations of old and young age around digital technologies, the (lack of) representation of diverse older individuals in the design, development, and marketing of digital technologies and in the actual algorithms and datasets that constitute them. It also shows how individuals and institutions deal with digital ageism in everyday life. In the past decades, digital technologies permeated most aspects of everyday life. With a focus on how age is represented and experienced in relation to digital technologies leading to digital ageism, digitalisation’s reinforcement of spirals of exclusion and loss of autonomy of some collectives is explored, when it could be natural for a great part of society and represent a sort of improvement. The book addresses social science students and scholars interested in everyday digital technologies, society and the power struggles about it, providing insights from different parts of the globe. By using different methods and touching upon different aspects of digital ageism and how it plays out in contemporary connected data societies, this volume will raise awareness, challenge power, initiate discussions and spur further research into this field. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license

Labour In-Between Gift And Commodity – Reproducing And Resisting Precarity In The Digital Games Industry

The paper investigates the phenomenon of double exploitation in ’passionate work’, where workers are exploiting themselves in their dedication to work and colleagues, simultaneously as being exposed to exploitation by employers and the industry at large. The study is based on an analysis of semi-structured interviews with game developers employed in the Swedish digital games industry. The digital games industry has been highlighted internationally as an industry that obscures precarious working conditions behind the passion for creating games. Drawing on the relational work perspective in economic sociology, the analysis identifies the expectations and subtle norms in different socio-economic exchange systems, as well as the ambiguities and mismatches when the norms of gift exchange and market exchange intersect. Through the analytical notion of ‘labour as gift versus labour as commodity’, the study highlights the interactive social processes through which self-exploitation are sustained as well as questioned and resisted. It is argued that although work performed within the framework of an employment is to be considered a commodity in a structural meaning, it is not solely a commodity. Friendship reciprocity and favour exchanges are regarded as beyond-work-relationships as well as being integral to the formal labour relationships. The paper discusses the interactive dynamics of friendship and collegial exchanges, accounts of non-reciprocated gifts, as well as self-blaming and guilting practices. It is demonstrated how the mismatches between different forms of socio-economic exchange evoke reflections on the value of work, which paves the way to voice and potential exit from the industry

Consuming Seaweeds: In The Laboratory And Beyond

Based on fieldwork in a sensory science laboratory in Sweden, this paper brings the social aspects of conducting an analytical sensory panel together with consumers’ understandings of the everyday consumption context and existing practices. As part of an interdisciplinary project investigating seaweed as a new food in a Swedish context, this paper explores how seaweed as a new resource is made edible and how its taste is negotiated. The aim is to understand how expert consumers’ everyday life practices and ideas about seaweed consumption resonate with sensory perceptions and experiences they have produced in a laboratory.What kind of sensory perceptions and experiences are produced and how are they negotiated? How do the professional tasters understand and relate to eating seaweed in their everyday life? How do the sensory perceptions and experiences resonate with the experts’ everyday habits?Theoretically the study draws on diverse perspectives from the sociology of consumption, social science studies on sensory science, as well as literature from social and cultural geography. Through the concepts edibility and taste, I explore how a new resource becomes edible, tasty food. Observations and open expert conversations during two training sessions and one testing day of an analytical sen-sory panel have been conducted. After the sensory testing of different seaweed species, in-depth interviews with the professional panelists took place. The semi-structured interviews evolved around different parts of the food consumption cycle, such as acquisition of ingredients, cooking and eating. Qualitative aspects of conducting the analytical sensory panel are analyzed, and everyday life practic-es and ideas of panelists about seaweed consumption are investigated. The study is currently ongoing. Drawing on concepts, such as edibility and taste, conceptualizations of resources “becoming”, as well as an interdisciplinary research approach, it is expected to contribute to sociological studies through exploring new ways of directly connecting laboratory evaluations and everyday life through the research participants and consumed food. Moreover, by understanding the social processes that are involved in a new food becoming edible, the findings might support establishing seaweed in a new market and aid a transition towards a more sustainable, plant-based diet

Exploring The Challenges Of Gender Mainstreaming In Public Administration

This paper investigates the challenges of gender mainstreaming in Swedish municipalities, with a focus on the initial implementation. Since the mid-1990s, gender mainstreaming has been the prevailing strategy within Swedish authorities and public administration to increase gender equality in society. In simple terms, this means that a gender equality perspective must be integrated into all decisions and at all levels in order to ensure an equal provision of welfare to all citizens. Still, many gender equality challenges remain, which may call into question the effectiveness of the strategy. In Sweden, the discourse of gender equality is strong and organizations in both the public sector and the business sector are expected to work actively on gender equality, to maintain organizational legitimacy. However, critical researchers argue that extensive changes have not taken place and that the strategy of gender mainstreaming has contributed to the bureaucratization of gender equality work.The study is based on 20 semi-structured interviews with officials, managers and politicians involved in gender mainstreaming in a Swedish municipality, document analyses and participant observations. Drawing on the concept of decoupling, from institutional theory in organizational studies, this paper aims at understanding initial implementing gender mainstreaming. Through the analytical notion of the occurring talk, decisions and actions, this study analyses how actors in different parts of the municipality value and act in relation to gender equality and gender mainstreaming. The paper demonstrates how officials uses different strategies to move forward with gender mainstreaming, despite a lack of interest or priority from other groups

ILQA-19. Longitudinal Study on Older People’s Quality of Life during the Covid-19 pandemic (2022-2023)

ILQA-19 is a longitudinal qualitative case study. It investigates the social consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic on older people’s well-being and everyday life. It is conducted on a purposive sample of 40 older men and women aged between 65 and 80 living in the ten villages (located in the Northern part of Italy) that experienced the first lockdown in Europe. All data collection phases, i.e. recruitment, interviewing, and gaining informed consent, were performed by remote. We also adopted innovative protocols to recruit a heterogeneous sample, allowing everyone to participate in the study regardless of their digital literacy. The third wave of the data collection started in autumn 2022, using semi-structured video-interviews, involving 40 individuals. The interview explores older'adults experience of the digitalization of public services. For information on the other waves: - Wave 1 (2020) - Wave 2 (2021

ILQA-19. Longitudinal Study on Older People’s Quality of Life during the Covid-19 pandemic (2021)

ILQA-19 is a longitudinal qualitative case study. It investigates the social consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic on older people’s well-being and everyday life. It is conducted on a purposive sample of 40 older men and women aged between 65 and 80 living in the ten villages (located in the Northern part of Italy) that experienced the first lockdown in Europe. All data collection phases, i.e. recruitment, interviewing, and gaining informed consent, were performed by remote. We also adopted innovative protocols to recruit a heterogeneous sample, allowing everyone to participate in the study regardless of their digital literacy. The second wave of the data collection started in spring 2021, using semi-structured video-interviews, involving 31 individuals. The interview explores changes occurred in older people’s everyday life, the role of social relationships and social media use during the lockdown, and representation and social inclusion of older adults. For information on the other waves: - Wave 1 (2020

ILQA-19. Longitudinal Study on Older People’s Quality of Life during the Covid-19 pandemic (2020)

ILQA-19 is a longitudinal qualitative case study. It investigates the social consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic on older people’s well-being and everyday life. It is conducted on a purposive sample of 40 older men and women aged between 65 and 80 living in the ten villages (located in the Northern part of Italy) that experienced the first lockdown in Europe. The first wave of the data collection was conducted in spring 2020, during the first lockdown, using semi-structured video-interviews. Wave 1 interview explores changes occurred in older people’s everyday life, the role of social relationships and social media use during the lockdown, and the impact of the lockdown on older people’s well-being. In particular, the research intends: - analyse the representations of the elderly regarding the redefinition of the "new" everyday life; - explore how changes in relationship networks (intra/intergenerational links within and outside the family network) and in support and care systems have affected the well-being of the elderly; - reconstruct the strategies and resources adopted by the elderly to adapt to the new everyday life, also with reference to the role of "social technologies" and the changes in their use; - collect their views on the measures taken by the institutions, especially on the relationship between health policies and respect for the principles of active ageing