Due to expanded life span, it is more important for the old to enjoy leisure today. Their leasure is no longer spending pare time. It means life itself. If they didn't use leisure well, the old could be a sense of alienation which is the most dangerou...
Due to expanded life span, it is more important for the old to enjoy leisure today. Their leasure is no longer spending pare time. It means life itself. If they didn't use leisure well, the old could be a sense of alienation which is the most dangerous one of the old's situation like economically deprivation and badly health. In spite of this problem, there is no the study about the cause of the old's leisure alienation but a little the study about the phenomenon of leisure alienation.
The purpose of this study is developing a substantive theory based on the grounded theory that can understand about the old peoples leisure alienation all about a point of view. To achieve this purpose, I contacted the twenty six old persons who do leisure activities and stay at home, and collected data from in depth interview, participative observation, literature review.
The results are as follows.
In the open coding, this research is constructed with the framework that consists of 170 concepts, 41 subcategories, and 16 categories. In an axial coding, sixteen categories derived from open coding are reconstructed by paradigm. The central phenomenon supposes "shrinking". The causal condition of the central phenomenon is "exclusion from normal life", and psychological condition is "not letting go", "avoidance of leisure activities", and "denial of symbols of old age". Environmental conditions identified are "pushing away", "cultural capital", "exchangeable human resources", "proximity of leisure", "establishment of support system". Action/interaction strategies are "interaction", "re-constructing life", "instrumental leisure activities", and "harmony". The results showed "blockage of communication" and "creation of communication".
In the in-depth interview analysis, alienation of leisure must replace participation with enjoyment(jouissance). Even if the aged can participate in leisure activities positively if they cannot feel enjoyment(jouissance), this could mean alienation. Based on this result, I redefined leisure alienation access of the old as a concept of enjoyment(jouissance).
In selective coding, the core category about leisure experience of the old was "finding life through leisure and departure from every day life". Based on the core category, four types were derived : ‘the past fixing type’, ‘the binding type’, ‘the satisfying reality type’, and ‘the developing type’.
The first type lived alone with a very poor supporting system. They hold on to their memory of younger times and spent their time alone. This led to blockage of communication with society. The seconde type of people lived alone and expressed sorrow. They did not try to communicate with the world through leisure activities due to their failure to interact. Both types blamed themselves. The reason for this is that the aged are exposed to poor conditions and so they cannot associate with other people. In the end, they keep "pushing away" to disconnect with the outside world. Some people in the first and second type tried to communicate. But because of their method of immoral behavior, they were put in worse situations. The third type is characterized by satisfying real life. The elderly in this type were not interested in a better life and accepted the present, unlike ‘the past fixing type’ and ‘the binding himself type’. The last type identified the aged as achieving their life objective regardless of their age. Even though they faced many obstacles caused by aging, they tried to fulfill their objective and live their life with a purpose. Thus, they accepted their aging naturally, and they prepared for the future and found ways to communicate with the world.
In the process analysis, as time goes, the leisure experience of the elderly changed during the four stages: the entry stage of old age, the confusion stage, the lost stage, and the alienation․enjoyment(jouissance) stage.
At the entry stage of old age, people experienced exclusion from every day life. It made them confused even though this kind of situation was expected in the old development stage. In this situation, while most participants wished to return to their normal life, this was impossible. And they did not adapt to their environment, so they lost their self-existence and lived without confidence. However, participants tried to find ways to adapt to their life. Some experienced alienation and others enjoyment(jouissance) based on "pushing away", "cultural capital", "exchangeable human resources", "approach to leisure", "establishment of support system". In the enjoyment(jouissance) stage, participants overcame the lost stage by "re-constructing life" and "harmony". As they find their suitable leisures activities, participants can engage in communication. On the other hand, in the alienation stage, although the participants tried to interact, they continued to fail many times. And instrumental leisure activities that were unsuitable showed repeated obsessional behaviors. Thus, they lived without finding ways to communicate with the world.