The Complexity of Physical Capital: How Old Male Athletes Relate to Body and Health

摘要

The aim of the present article was to explore how old athletes relate to their bodies and health in the process of growing old. The findings suggest that the old male athletes controlled their bodies in order to gain physical capital, but that different ways of employing the body were valued in the contexts of aging, athletics and masculinity. On the whole the men displayed a contradictious way of relating to their bodies and health. However, they could to some extent reconcile the tensions between the different norms of body and health by emphasizing the need to preserve physical autonomy, an ideal that appeared to be valid in all three contexts. In recent years, the crucial role of the body in the process of aging has been acknowledged more and more in gerontology as well as feminist studies (Twigg, 2004). The old body has been recognized as significant for the self-images and identities of old adults (Oberg & Tornstam, 1999; 2001), for the understanding of health, and for the intersecting experiences of aging and gender (Twigg). The physical state of one's body and health has become a dividing line in the population of old adults (Calasanti & Slevin, 2006). People with fit and active bodies are often portrayed as successful agers or third agers; youthful go-getters who are managing aging in a successful manner. Individuals with less active and fit bodies are referred to as usual agers or fourth agers (Laslett, 1991; Rowe & Kahn, 1997), and they are frequently described in terms of loss and dependency (Laslett).