BİR TOPLUMSAL İKTİDAR ALANI OLARAK BEDEN VE “YAŞLANAN BEDENİN” YENİDEN İNŞAASI
Journal Title: Mehmet Akif Ersoy Üniversitesi İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi Dergisi - Year 2018, Vol 5, Issue 2
Abstract
İnsanın yaşamının normal döngüleri arasında bulunan yaşlılık günümüzde bir sosyal sorun olarak tanımlanarak kaçınılması, dolayısıyla geciktirilmesi gereken bir durum olarak algılanmaktadır. Bu durum yaşlılığın toplumsal boyutuna dikkatleri çekmektedir. Çünkü yaşlılığı tanımlayan ve toplumsal hiyerarşide dezavantajlı alanda konumlandıran söz konusu toplumdaki iktidar ilişkilerini belirleyen egemen değerlerdir. Bu anlamda beden politikaları ve bedenin bir tüketim alanı olarak tüketim toplumundaki konumu da önemli olmaktadır. Buradan hareket eden bu çalışma, günümüz tüketim toplumunda yaşlanma ve yaşlılığı aktif çalışma yaşamında yer alamaması nedeniyle önce dışarıda bırakan yönüyle yeni bir ayrım biçimi olarak ele almaktadır. Ardından yine tüketim ilişkileri içinde tüketici kimliği bağlamında dahil edilen yaşlılık kavramı sorgulanmaktadır. Yani bu çalışma kısaca toplumsal iktidar ilişkileri içinde yaşlılığa yüklenen anlamlar ile sosyal alanda iktidar kaybı olarak tanımlanan yaşlılığa dair pratiklerin piyasa ekonomisi odaklı olarak tartışılmasına dayanmaktadır. Bu çerçevede yaşlılık bir anlamda iktidar kaybı olarak tanımlanıp bir yandan fiziksel boyutuyla tıp alanında, hastalık, sağlık, estetik ve ölümle ilişkilendirilerek ayrıştırılmaktadır. Diğer yandan sosyal, psikolojik ve hukuksal boyutlarıyla güç ilişkileri ve toplumsal eşitsizlik, ayrım ve dışlanma bağlamında tartışılmaktadır. EXTENDED SUMMARY Objective: This study focuses on how the social perceptions of the aging process has changed. How “aging” body is rebuilt in the consumption society as a power domain in social and economic sense is discussed. This study, which is namely based on social sense of the body, proceeds within the frame of the inferences of the body, which transform in the consumption society, such as youth, old age, death and immortality. From this point of view, the old age, which becomes a disadvantageous situation within the scope of social power relations, discrimination and social exclusion, is discussed. Definition and the Framework of the Subject: The "old age", once a symbol of wisdom and therefore of power, has begun to be considered as an area where all kinds of medical, aesthetic and physical interventions are legitimized, as a result of the perfect "young", "beautiful", "healthy" body creation project in the modern period. Such a perspective creates new areas of intervention to the body in the light of the changing social dynamics. On the other hand, it helped aging body to be rebuilt both discursive and culturally, socially, politically and economically in practical sense. Because the body’s being transformed into a project not only gives the right of shaping it to the individual’s right and liability but also let various means of power be involved in the process (Shilling, 1993: 5). In this process, the body is defined using "health" and "youth" notions and it becomes a new field of construction. The redefinition of old age through diseases involves the reconstruction of any kind of physical change with aesthetic and beauty concerns. In this context, the body is rebuilt according to this identity by referring to the social identity of the individual (Yumul, 2000: 39). Body is an important and concrete field of power and struggle relations, and political, religious, moral and economic discourses are produced on it (Kara, 2013: 20). This expression of power takes place through the regulation of all vital processes and everyday activities, and it also obscures the boundaries of the private and public sphere. Old age and the traces of it which are significant parts of natural life is controlled as a part of this process. Social structure’s being either production oriented or consumption oriented determines the functionality of individuals and age categories in these systems. In today's society where social relations gain meaning through the relations of production and consumption, old age has been excluded and the marginalized. It is due to this fact that aging is on the agenda of politics, and it is in the limelight of powers and normalizing mechanisms. At the same time, the main occupation field of the period is perfecting the body through the ideal of youth, perfecting it, eliminating all kinds of roughness and disease. Conclusion and Discussion: Consequently, in today's societies in which new markets are created through the body and every process of life is guided and shaped by market conditions, old age becomes a significant consumption field. In other words, aging is ignored and the ideal of permanent youth is dignified and the consumption market is shaped in accordance with this. In an age, where youth and beauty is exalted, all kinds of interventions are made to the body thanks to the developing technologies and industries, healthy body is accepted as a merit, not only the old age but also the “aging” and “to be aged” body was the focus of the market. As Ertan (2017: 91) states, “body and the various interventions made to the body are not merely visual changes on the embodied entity of the individuals. All these body related practices also point to specific socio-cultural realities and gain meaning in the interactive structure of social life.” The "aging body" and "elderly population" become centers of scientific knowledge, cultural images, political rationalities and institutional practices, and they designate the whole life (Powell; Biggs, 2003: 13). In such a period, in which physical satisfaction and desires are preliminary, "qualified, successful and healthy life and aging are becoming not only the aim of individuals but also the various powers’. Therefore, it traps individuals, who want to have an immortal, qualified, beautiful body, in an endless area of struggle and solution seeking. Thus, the body becomes involved in the specialized and institutionalized power relations of the consumption market and regulated and controlled by the promises of freedom and immortality. In this context, old age turns into a relationship of power in social sense and social, economic, cultural and class features interact with demographic characteristics and determine the social power relations. Body and the meanings attributed to it in consumption society are the focus of this struggle and they turn into spaces where given power relations become visible.
Authors and Affiliations
Meral TİMURTURKAN, Gönül DEMEZ
Keywords
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- EP ID EP441749
- DOI 10.30798/makuiibf.402090
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