Discursive positioning in everyday encounters in elder care

This is a study of talk between older persons and care staff in encounters in elder care. The empirical data consist of 20 dyadic audio-taped conversations between older persons and care staff.

The conversations were studied as acts of narrative identity positioning in which the participants in the dialogue take positions in order to argue for a specific identity in the context of care.

A discourse analysis of interpretive repertoire subject positions and narrative identity construction were undertaken (Davies and Harré 2001). The results summarize the interpretive repertoires used by old persons and the care staff high-light the construction of subject positions using discursive recourses.

While focusing on communicative practices in the context of elder care, the paper address methodological issues, but the intention is to open up also for discussions on theoretical as well as empirical matters in the study of ageing and later life.