CfP: Shifting Normativities in the Life of the Elderly

Laboratorium: Russian Review of Social Research
Invites contributions for a thematic issue
Shifting Normativities in the Life of the Elderly
Guest editors: Julia Zelikova, associate professor at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, and Elena Bogdanova, associate professor at the European University in St. Petersburg|research fellow at the Centre for Independent Social Research|associate professor at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration
Aging is an inevitable process and stage of human life, which is increasingly attracting the attention of scholars in social sciences. Newly emerging social, cultural, medical, and media discourses interpret differently the changes that occur in the human body at the physical and mental levels. Some of them pathologize processes that were previously considered natural and contribute to their medicalization. Others, on the contrary, try to normalize the process of aging and to incorporate the elderly as actors into processes of production and consumption.
A major goal of this special issue of Laboratorium is to consider the phenomenon and process of aging critically and make visible those cultural practices and discourses that produce contemporary interpretations of aging. The issue will bring together scholarship on aging from various social and historical contexts, which problematizes different conceptualizations and representations of old age. The aim of the special issue is to develop better understanding of the socio-cultural meanings embedded in the notions of old age and to produce theoretically informed and methodologically sound interpretations of them.
 
The issue aims to address two broad questions:
* How are conceptions of and attitudes towards aging formed as part of broader historical, social, religious, and ideological contexts?
* How are perceptions of old age constructed within and between different social categories, such as age, gender, and place?
We invite authors to submit research articles, essays, or review essays in either Russian or English. 
Proposals of approximately 600 words, including a brief discussion of the research methodology and theoretical framework, accompanied by authors’ short CVs should be sent to the managing editor Oksana Parfenova (oparfenova@soclabo.org) by April 15, 2019. Please indicate “For special issue Shifting Normativities in the Life of the Elderly” in the subject line of your email.

If your proposal is accepted, we expect completed articles (around 9,000 words in length) to be submitted by August 15, 2019, through the journal’s website (http://www.soclabo.org).  

 
Laboratorium: Russian Review of Social Research is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal produced by an international group of scholars. The journal comes out three times a year and publishes materials based on empirical qualitative social research in Russian and English. Laboratorium is included into Scopus and on the list of Emerging Sources Citation Index (Web of Science Core Collection).