Mariette Snyman

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Shifting Conversations about Ageing: retirement, ageism and intergenerational programming

Worldwide, population dynamics are changing. Prof. Jaco Hoffman invites us to look at growing older with fresh eyes, challenging concepts like ageism and retirement. Citing scientific research findings, Jaco encourages a pro-ageing attitude, adaptive ageing, and beneficial initiatives such as intergenerational programming. Sponsored content.

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In ep. 140 of the weekly podcast series Calm, Clear and Helpful, Professor of Socio-Gerontology, Jaco Hoffman, touches on

  • research regarding ageing across the lifespan relevant to this conversation  

  • why Jaco is pro-ageing

  • the world’s ageing population: for the first time in history, there are more 65- year-olds than under-5-year-olds

  • 3 drivers behind population ageing: lower mortality, lower fertility and migration

  • verticalisation of families and its impact on, for instance, the intergenerational transfer of wealth

  • which term we should use to refer to people in the later developmental phase of life

  • the “third age”  

  • grandmothers aged around 42 in Africa and South Africa

  • ageism: how we think, feel and act towards others or ourselves based on age

  • institutional, interpersonal and internalised ageism

  • advertisements which portray older people in a negative way

  • why the tagging of generations, e.g. the “Baby Boomers”, is problematic

  • Sub-Saharan Africa as a “young continent”

  • the promise of Africa’s potential workforce, depending on education and the transfer of skills

  • where retirement originated and whether retirement should be “retired”

  • the function of intergenerational programming, with examples - and Jaco’s dream

  • Jaco’s 3 tips on adaptive ageing.

In this episode Jaco mentions The Decade of Healthy Ageing, 2020-2030, declared by the UN and WHO; the social anthropologist Alfred Radcliffe-Brown; Sally Newman; the book Intergenerational Pathways to a Sustainable Society, which Jaco co-authored with M. Kaplan and M. Sanchez; the book Intergenerational Contact Zones: Place-based Strategies for Promoting Social Inclusion and Belonging which Jaco co-authored with M. Kaplan, L-L. Thang and M. Sanchez; and the psychologist Paul Baltes.

Scroll down for more information on Jaco and a free open-source book on intergenerational contact zones.

An Introduction to Intergenerational Contact Zones - free download of this open-source book:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339391399_Intergenerational_Contact_Zones_Place-based_Strategies_for_Promoting_Social_Inclusion_and_Belonging

More information here: https://aese.psu.edu/outreach/intergenerational/articles/intergenerational-contact-zones/introduction

Shifting Conversations about Ageing is an initiative of the Mind Moves® Institute.  

Listen to the podcast episode to discover what this is

About Jaco

Jaco Hoffman is Professor of Socio-Gerontology at North-West University in South Africa, where he leads the Ageing and Generational Dynamics in Africa (AGenDA) programme. He is also a Professorial Fellow at the Oxford Institute of Population Ageing at the University of Oxford in the UK, where he co-ordinates the UN endorsed African Research Network on Ageing (AFRAN.) He is an Honorary Professor in the Institute of Ageing in Africa, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, a Board Member of the South African Care Forum (SACF), and a past president of the South African Gerontological Association (SAGA). Jaco co-directs, with Prof Sebastiana Kalula (UCT), the International Longevity Centre (ILC) – South Africa.

Optentia Research Programme: https://optentia.co.za/

LinkedIn: Jaco Hoffman

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Music by Mart-Marie Snyman

Thumbnail image: Pexels . Models used

Photograph of prof. Jaco Hoffman: supplied