Official Media Discourse of ‘Active Longevity’: an Attempt to Popularize the Idea of the Inclusion of Older People into Society or to Conceal Undesirable Forced Choices

Abstract

In the process of reforming social policies, various actors use media channels to convey their arguments to a wide audience and popularize certain ideas. Not only facts are transmitted, but also a certain image of social reality. This paper explores the main media narratives of the official discourse of ‘active longevity’ in Belarus in the period 2017-2018, with the aim to explore the meanings that they broadcast in society, and what the image of social reality they represent and construct. For the analysis of narratives, semantic content analysis is used, as well as qualitative discourse analysis of texts/articles of The Belarusian Telegraph Agency BelTA and The Belarus Segodnia (‘Belarus Today’) state publishing house incorporated five newspapers. Texts were sampled for the period 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2018. The transmitted narratives in the materials of the official media, together with the comments of journalists, show the activity of older people as a desirable version of reality, as well as their rarity and non-typicality for the contemporary Belarusian society. This conclusion suggests that in this discourse, exactly the official narrative of ‘active longevity’ is the counter-story, designed to overcome the dominant in society popular and most shared narratives. The understanding of ‘active longevity’ offered by official discourse seems to be a simplified version of reality, focusing mainly on categories of labour activity, utility for the society or not burdening the society. This counter-narrative does not re-humanize, but instead of empowering it makes other choices for understanding ‘active longevity’ invisible and insignificant.