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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Doing change and continuity: age identity and the micro–macro divide

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ABSTRACTThis paper is a study of the discursive management of notions of change andcontinuity in interview talk. It presents selected short empirical examples frominterviews with 22 Finnish baby-boomers, and discusses the methodological andtheoretical issues that arise. Following a review of the major approaches to thestudy of age identity, the analytic intersection between qualitative gerontologyand discursive psychology is explored. The analysis identifies how the frequentuse of a ‘provisional continuity device’ enables speakers simultaneously both toacknowledge and to distance themselves from factual notions of physical orpsychological lifespan change. The key methodological argument is that the dis-cursive analysis of age-in-interaction cannot necessarily be achieved through themyopic micro-study of discursive strategies, but rather two suggestions are made.First, it is argued that analytically-anchored and rigorous discursive gerontologythat both systematically draws on and contributes to the broad field of discursiveresearch provides a means by which to test empirically post-modern concep-tualisations of age identity. Second, it is suggested that analyses of age-talkin everyday and institutional settings provide an analytical and theoreticalmiddle-ground between the macro versus micro or ‘microfication’ debate ingerontology.KEY WORDS – age identity, baby-boom cohort, provisional continuity device,discursive gerontology, micro and macro, microfication.Introduction