Project
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Funded by .
The older we are, the closer we are to finitude – the end of life – but does this make the future more important to us or less? The aim of this exploratory project is to develop social understandings of the relationship between future time and older age. With more people living longer, there is more future time in older age than ever before – especially in more economically-advantaged minority world countries – but this time is typically presented as problematic for younger workers rather than as more time that can be enjoyed in later life. This project will explore the dominant social and cultural discourses about the relationship between future time and people who are considered to be ‘old’. It will consider the perceptions towards the future of those who identify as ‘old’ and how these are informed by dominant social narratives. Importantly, it will explore how utopian thinking and arts-based methods can help us to reimagine the future differently in old age and provide tools for further thinking in these areas.
Total award value ?234,492.61
Associate Professor, Sociology, Social Policy & Criminology
Article
Changing the Script: Using Forum Theatre to Reimagine the Future in Later Life
Lovatt M, Crichton G, Wright V & French JE (2026) Changing the Script: Using Forum Theatre to Reimagine the Future in Later Life. International Journal of Ageing and Later Life. https://doi.org/10.3384/ijal.1652-8670.6223
Article
Thinking about the future in older age
Wright V & Lovatt M (2024) Thinking about the future in older age. Journal of Aging Studies, 71, Art. No.: 101282. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaging.2024.101282
Article
French JE, Lovatt M & Wright V (2024) Utopian Method: Reimagining Age Expectations and Intergenerational Relationships Through Reader Responses to Tove Jansson’s The Summer Book (1972). Age, Culture, Humanities: an Interdisciplinary Journal, 8. https://doi.org/10.7146/ageculturehumanities.v8i.150067
Article
Understanding nuance and ambivalence in intergenerational relationships through fiction
French JE, Lovatt M & Wright V (2023) Understanding nuance and ambivalence in intergenerational relationships through fiction. The Gerontologist. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnad051
Commentary
French J, Lovatt M & Wright V (2021) Through the Utopian Lens of Opportunity: Using fiction and theatre to reimagine the post-COVID-19 future. Sociological Review Magazine. https://thesociologicalreview.org/magazine/november-2021/methods-and-methodology/through-the-utopian-lens-of-opportunity/