Deconstructing the 'older worker': exploring the complexities of subject positioning at the intersection of multiple discourses
This study adopts an intersectional approach to explore the complexities and contingencies of subject positioning in the case of an individual older worker. Five deconstruction strategies are applied to an older worker’s account of his experience of the workplace to unveil the variety of discourses...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Sage
2018
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50059/ |
| _version_ | 1848798142402658304 |
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| author | Spedale, Simona |
| author_facet | Spedale, Simona |
| author_sort | Spedale, Simona |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | This study adopts an intersectional approach to explore the complexities and contingencies of subject positioning in the case of an individual older worker. Five deconstruction strategies are applied to an older worker’s account of his experience of the workplace to unveil the variety of discourses and taken-for-granted assumptions that regulate individual identity formation and contribute to perpetuating the marginalization of the ageing organizational subject. Deconstruction analysis shows how the unique positioning of the research subject emerges at the intersection of complex discourses of age, enterprise, family, death and mental and physical health, casting him as both victim and perpetrator of inequality across a kaleidoscope of interacting categories of oppression. The analysis contributes to the critique of the binary dualism implicit in the victim-perpetrator paradigm dominating mainstream research and policy making on age discrimination in the workplace. It also advocates for new conceptualizations of ageing at work that recognize the systemic nature of inequality as the product of intersecting systems of power relations. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:15:04Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-50059 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:15:04Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | Sage |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-500592018-04-17T14:43:25Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50059/ Deconstructing the 'older worker': exploring the complexities of subject positioning at the intersection of multiple discourses Spedale, Simona This study adopts an intersectional approach to explore the complexities and contingencies of subject positioning in the case of an individual older worker. Five deconstruction strategies are applied to an older worker’s account of his experience of the workplace to unveil the variety of discourses and taken-for-granted assumptions that regulate individual identity formation and contribute to perpetuating the marginalization of the ageing organizational subject. Deconstruction analysis shows how the unique positioning of the research subject emerges at the intersection of complex discourses of age, enterprise, family, death and mental and physical health, casting him as both victim and perpetrator of inequality across a kaleidoscope of interacting categories of oppression. The analysis contributes to the critique of the binary dualism implicit in the victim-perpetrator paradigm dominating mainstream research and policy making on age discrimination in the workplace. It also advocates for new conceptualizations of ageing at work that recognize the systemic nature of inequality as the product of intersecting systems of power relations. Sage 2018-04-15 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50059/1/decontructing%20the%20older%20worker.pdf Spedale, Simona (2018) Deconstructing the 'older worker': exploring the complexities of subject positioning at the intersection of multiple discourses. Organization . ISSN 1461-7323 Age inequality; Ageism; Deconstruction analysis; Intersectionality; Older worker http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1350508418768072 doi:10.1177/1350508418768072 doi:10.1177/1350508418768072 |
| spellingShingle | Age inequality; Ageism; Deconstruction analysis; Intersectionality; Older worker Spedale, Simona Deconstructing the 'older worker': exploring the complexities of subject positioning at the intersection of multiple discourses |
| title | Deconstructing the 'older worker': exploring the complexities of subject positioning at the intersection of multiple discourses |
| title_full | Deconstructing the 'older worker': exploring the complexities of subject positioning at the intersection of multiple discourses |
| title_fullStr | Deconstructing the 'older worker': exploring the complexities of subject positioning at the intersection of multiple discourses |
| title_full_unstemmed | Deconstructing the 'older worker': exploring the complexities of subject positioning at the intersection of multiple discourses |
| title_short | Deconstructing the 'older worker': exploring the complexities of subject positioning at the intersection of multiple discourses |
| title_sort | deconstructing the 'older worker': exploring the complexities of subject positioning at the intersection of multiple discourses |
| topic | Age inequality; Ageism; Deconstruction analysis; Intersectionality; Older worker |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50059/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50059/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50059/ |