The welsh Welsh - Y Cymry cymreig: A study of cultural exclusion among ruraldwelling older people using a critical human ecological framework

摘要

Research on cultural exclusion has not kept apace with transformations torural populations, economy, family structures and community relationships.Cultural exclusion refers to the extent to which people are able or willing toconform to cultural norms and values.We theorise cultural exclusion usingthe critical human ecological framework and social comparison theory,taking into account period effects, area effects and cohort and/or lifecourseeffects.Qualitative case studies in three rural areas of South Wales (UnitedKingdom) synthesise data from life-historyinterviews, life-history calendars,documentary sources and focus groups (n = 56).Our findings suggestthat cultural exclusion is an issue for rural-dwelling older people, whichthey describe by temporal self-comparisonand group comparisons.Thecritical human ecological framework provides new insight into the drivers(industrial decline, policy and population change, a shift from collectivismto individualism), and outcomes (sense of belonging, community cohesion)of cultural exclusion experienced by rural-dwelling older people.