News media discourses help shape the overarching public opinion about aging migrants. This discourse analysis traced social representations of aging and migration in leading Canadian newspapers and identified inferiorized discourses of aging and disability that legitimize neoliberal policy restructurings that regulate older adults’ ability to reunite with their families.
Learning Objectives:
At the end of this session, attendees should be able to:
Participants will be able to understand how social perceptions of aging and migration are shaped by news media coverage. This information will facilitate participants to apply a critical discourse lens to their own practice contexts.
Participants will be able to recognize how social representations of older immigrants associate deficit values towards aging, disability and migration. This knowledge can help social workers understand how social perceptions can impact older clients’ self-concept, positionality and behavioural responses.
Participants will be able to gain knowledge about how policy and public narratives can influence gerontological intervention development for social workers working with immigrant seniors. Participants will be able to assess how to apply these interventions in their own organizations and practice.
