Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Using applied phronesis to explore productivism in elderly care policy

Using applied phronesis to explore productivism in elderly care policy Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide an example of how applied phronesis can be used as a methodological approach in social research. The example consists of an exploration of the discourse of productivism in elderly care policy in Australia.Designmethodologyapproach The research interrogates arrangements of objective facts within recent representations of the aged which render particular policy discourses rational. An analysis of selected secondary data and texts is offered to demonstrate how applied phronesis may be used to discern when objective facts are presented in particular ways to sustain useful discourses, such as productivism.Findings The paper demonstrates that, rather than being rational discourse, productivism employs suitable arrangements of objective facts leading to particular rationalisations, including that the elderly should be viewed as a separate category, that they are a burden on society and that they contribute to increasing health care costs. Alternative interpretations and arrangements of the same objective facts indicate that what is rendered as rational within the discourse of productivism may also be seen as a construct of power rather than an unavoidable and logical outcome.Research limitationsimplications Because it is intended mainly as a demonstration, this paper offers a limited application of applied phronesis.Originalityvalue The research is employed as a practical demonstration of the efficacy of applied phronesis in social research. At the same time, this is the first phronetic exploration of productivism in aged care policy. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Qualitative Research Journal Emerald Publishing

Using applied phronesis to explore productivism in elderly care policy

Teghe, Daniel
Qualitative Research Journal , Volume 12 (2): 10 – Aug 3, 2012
Download PDF
10 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/emerald-publishing/using-applied-phronesis-to-explore-productivism-in-elderly-care-policy-lR6neuLns3
Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © Emerald Group Publishing Limited
ISSN
1443-9883
DOI
10.1108/14439881211248329
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide an example of how applied phronesis can be used as a methodological approach in social research. The example consists of an exploration of the discourse of productivism in elderly care policy in Australia.Designmethodologyapproach The research interrogates arrangements of objective facts within recent representations of the aged which render particular policy discourses rational. An analysis of selected secondary data and texts is offered to demonstrate how applied phronesis may be used to discern when objective facts are presented in particular ways to sustain useful discourses, such as productivism.Findings The paper demonstrates that, rather than being rational discourse, productivism employs suitable arrangements of objective facts leading to particular rationalisations, including that the elderly should be viewed as a separate category, that they are a burden on society and that they contribute to increasing health care costs. Alternative interpretations and arrangements of the same objective facts indicate that what is rendered as rational within the discourse of productivism may also be seen as a construct of power rather than an unavoidable and logical outcome.Research limitationsimplications Because it is intended mainly as a demonstration, this paper offers a limited application of applied phronesis.Originalityvalue The research is employed as a practical demonstration of the efficacy of applied phronesis in social research. At the same time, this is the first phronetic exploration of productivism in aged care policy.

Journal

Qualitative Research Journal – Emerald Publishing

Published: Aug 3, 2012

There are no references for this article.