The project explores the eating habits of older adults as a result of social influences, cultural patterns and transitions as well as the individual agency. The qualitative research approach (in-depth interviews and observation with visual methods) will be employed to describe the dynamics of the importance of food during ageing, both the subjective perception of this importance and the implemented practices and changes caused by health factors. The project identifies food as an important element of quality of life in old age and explores how eating habits are practiced in the home environment and how they are affected by living in institutional care, specifically in care homes. It is innovative in that it explores the agency of older adults in negotiating eating habits in various social and cultural contexts and contributes with new knowledge, theoretical grounding and the application of the principles of food anthropology to the development of social gerontology and sociology of everyday life.

Czech society is ageing and this process is gendered. Yet, we know very little about the ageing of Czech men. Men are often not named as a gendered category. The project aims to challenge this approach by addressing the topic critically, providing an intersectional analysis situated in a context of a post-socialist country. The design is based on mixed methods sequential research approach, combining qualitative fieldwork with supplementary quantitative secondary analyses. It addresses processes of ageing as a reflected gendered practice by a chosen analytical logic of intersecting power and care relationships. Answers to the research question “how do Czech men do gender, age and ageing in selected social contexts?” will provide an understanding of the dynamics of relations in later lives. Powerful as well as marginalising relations of men as they age will be scrutinised together with caring and being cared for. The study fills gaps beyond fieldwork from a specific context. It will conceptually enrich current international knowledge by adopting a critical perspective.

Social exclusion in later life is a multifaceted social problem with substantial disruptive consequences for individuals and society. One aspect of social exclusion is the exclusion from social relations, which is the key focus of this project. Being socially connected is a universal basic human need; key to the development of infants, and important throughout the life course. However, a substantial proportion of older adults are socially excluded and lack the essential social connection necessary for a healthy and happy life. Social exclusion may have its roots in early life, but patterns of social exclusion over the life course may well be different for men and women. Scientific knowledge of the gendered pattern of exclusion from social relations is scattered and policies to reduce the inequalities limited in effectiveness. The proposed project aims to analyse gender differences in the construction and consequences of exclusion from social relations across European countries, and its consequences for health and wellbeing. Findings will be used to inform the scientific debate about social exclusion, and to inform policies to reduce exclusion from social relations in older men and women. 

The project brings new observations to the topic of ageing, specifically the fourth age and active ageing. It examines the fourth-age population and tries to understand the experience of advanced age, an experience influenced the new demographic regime, socio-political context, and economic context, as well as the dominant concept of active ageing. The fourth age is studied as a specific life stage, definable not only on the basis of chronological age, but determined above all socially and individually. The project makes use of publicly available sources of data, including panel data (Czech Bureau of Statistics and SHARE), supplemented by qualitative interviews. The qualitative part especially captures the transition to fourth age and the associated changes in identity. The project is innovative because it explores the possibilities for social research on the fourth age population, and the topic of the fourth age itself is handled, but from the perspective of sociology, not from standpoint of health and social care.

The project brings new observations to the topic of ageing, specifically the fourth age and active ageing. It examines the fourth-age population and tries to understand the experience of advanced age, an experience influenced the new demographic regime, socio-political context, and economic context, as well as the dominant concept of active ageing. The fourth age is studied as a specific life stage, definable not only on the basis of chronological age, but determined above all socially and individually. The project makes use of publicly available sources of data, including panel data (Czech Bureau of Statistics and SHARE), supplemented by qualitative interviews. The qualitative part especially captures the transition to fourth age and the associated changes in identity. The project is innovative because it explores the possibilities for social research on the fourth age population, and the topic of the fourth age itself is handled, but from the perspective of sociology, not from the standpoint of health and social care.