printChanges in Older People’s Attitudes Towards the “Own Birthday” Life Event
Еlutina М.E.
Dr. Sci. (Sociol.), Prof., Head of the Chair of Social Work Sociology, Saratov National Research State University named after N.G. Chernyshevsky, Saratov, Russia. elutina133@mail.ru
Sitnikova S.V.
Dr. Sci (Sociol.), Prof. of the Department of social Informatics of the faculty of sociology, N.G. Chernyshevsky National Research Saratov State University, Saratov, Russia skareva@yandex.ru
Еlutina М.E., Sitnikova S.V. Changes in Older People’s Attitudes Towards the “Own Birthday” Life Event. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2025. No 4. P. 61-70
Under the influence of the process of aging the population, old age in modern society acquires new meanings, is included in new discourses. Social changes in the gerontological group in modern Russian society are accompanied by transformations in the event hierarchy of the life path of the individual. Birthday is a universal event, the attitude to which is the sociocultural context of the formation of both social and personal identity, the affirmation of one’s own, independent of the ontology group, “identity for oneself.” At each age, a certain idea of the birthday is constructed, associated with social morphology. The purpose of this article is to clarify the assessment of this event by the elderly in terms of its meaningful and emotional elements, to show subjective displacements and their causes in its reconstruction and interpretation. The study demonstrates that there are changes in the attitude towards one’s own birthday in older people determined not so much by economic factors as depending on adaptation to the status of a pensioner, a reduction in the nearest circle, on the established traditions of celebrating one’s birthday. Attention to changes in relation to the Day of one’s birth allows to radicalize research optics, since changes are considered as a marker of value attitude to one’s own personality, manifested in the desire to remind, update, guarantee and confirm personal identity.
Borodina I. V. (2014) Birthday as the phenomenon of the Russian culture. Grani poznaniya [VGSPU electronic scientific and educational journal «Facets of Cognition»]. No. 1 (28): 79–81. (In Russ.)
Brutskaya K. A. (2005) Features of the perception of the life path by older people with experience of experiencing gerontological violence // Psihologicheskie issledovaniya [Psychological studies]. No. 2. URL: http://psystudy.ru/index.php/num/2011n3–17/491-grishina17.html (accessed 20.08.2024). (In Russ.)
Davydova E. A. (2010) Event: history and concept in the philosophy of language. Vestnik OGU [Bulletin of OSU]. No. 11 (117): 112–116. (In Russ.)
Deegan M. (1986) Holidays as Multiple Realities: Experiencing Gold and Bad Times After Disabling Trauma. Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare. Vol. 13: 786–803.
Dolgov Yu.N. (2004) Value-event analysis of the life path of a person. Autoref. dis… cand. soc. n Saratov, 2004. 19 pp. (In Russ.)
Grishina N. V. (2011) Life scenarios: normative and individualization. Psihologicheskie issledovaniya [Psychological studies]. Vol. 4. No. 17. URL: http://psystudy.ru/index.php/num/2011n3-17/491-grishina17.html (accessed 20.08.2024). (In Russ.)
Heidegger M. (1991) Conversation on a country road. Collection: trans. with him / Ed. by A. A. Dobrokhotova. Moscow: Higher school. (In Russ.)
Ivanova D. D. (2024) Life path of a person: experience of socio- philosophical understanding // Izvestiya Saratovskogo universiteta. Novaya seriya. Seriya: Filosofiya. Psihologiya. Pedagogika [Izvestia of Saratov University. Philosophy. Psychology. Pedagogy]. Vol. 24. No. 1: 41–45. (In Russ.)
Kalacheva O. V. (2003) Formation of individual and collective identity in the context of an unofficial holiday (using the example of celebrating the birthday in Russia of the Soviet and post- Soviet periods). Autoref. dis… cand. social sciences. Moscow. (In Russ.)
Koshlakov- Krestovsky D.V., Popova S. A. (2022) Features of economic activity of citizens of the older generation: consumer market of goods and services. Vestnik Evrazijskoj nauki [The Eurasian Scientific Journal]. Vol. 14. No. 3: 1–12. (In Russ.)
Mareeva S. V. (2018) Zones of subjective well-being and disadvantage in Russian society. Vestnik RUDN. Seriya: Sociologiya [RUDN Journal of Sociology]. Vol. 18. No. 4: 695–707. (In Russ.)
Mostitskaya N. D., Mikhailov A. B. (2023) Gift philosophy in the structure of the typological model of holidays. Hudozhestvennaya kul’tura [Art and Culture Studies]. No. 3: 62–83. (In Russ.)
Myasnikova L. A., Filatova E. A. (2013) Event and “pseudo- event” – subject- forming elements of the traditional and modern holiday. Diskussiya [Discussion[. No. 10 (40): 51–58. (In Russ.)
Toepul V. (2013) Aging, leisure and social connectedness: How can leisure help reduce social isolation in older people? Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Quality of Life Measurement. Springer. Vol. 113(1): 355–372.