THE AGEING SELF: A SYMBOLIC ECONOMY OF THE ELDERLY LIVING IN SINGAPORE’S PUBLIC RENTAL HOUSING

Abstract

This dissertation seeks to fill the lacuna in gerontological literature on elderly living in Singapore’s public rental housing. This paper is a canvas for the ‘landscapes of later life’ (Blaikie 1999: 23), with splashes of aged subjectivities dappled along the trajectory of the individual’s life course. Subjectivities of the elderly are explored through a thorough examination of old age identities, embodiment and intersubjectivities that transpire within a specific geographical confine. The older person is an active, thinking individual that negotiates the compounded constraints of old-age health deterioration, loss of kin, diminishing social networks, financial strain and geographical limitations.