NEITHER ALLOWED TO GET OLD, NOR ALLOWED TO STAY YOUNG: URBAN KAZAKHSTANI AGED WOMEN NEGOTIATE AGEING

Abstract

Critical literature on ageing and old age points to the pervasiveness of ageism, whereas aged people do not celebrate high social status in modern industrial capitalist societies. At the same time, anti-ageing discourses give the agency as well as place the responsibility to “fight” with ageing and old age on the aged people themselves. While above mentioned dictates are more or less global and can be applied to many modern societies, Kazakhstani societal and cultural patterns simultaneously dictate its own expectations regarding the limits, opportunities, and rights of aged people. Sociocultural expectations also greatly depend on gender....