Menders, Not Just Consumers: Repositioning Older Adults as Contributors in the Circular Economy
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.64229/sbe35n68Keywords:
Circular economy, Older adults, Productive ageing, Social inclusion, Generativity, SustainabilityAbstract
Purpose: This paper questions the habit of casting older adults mainly as consumers within the silver and circular economies, and asks whether later life is better understood as a site of contribution as well as consumption. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is conceptual and discursive. It draws purposively on productive ageing and circular economy scholarship, sets the consumer and contributor framings in dialogue, and builds a conceptual model with propositions of stated evidential status. Findings: Many older adults hold a composite "circular capital" of repair, reuse, thrift and craft competencies that is unevenly distributed across the life course. Where an enabling and fairly governed opportunity structure exists, mobilising this capital can support wellbeing, generativity and social inclusion. Older people are positioned as multi-role actors rather than being fitted to a second narrow image. Originality: The paper defines circular capital and generative circularity, specifies safeguards against instrumentalisation, and offers a testable agenda for ageing and sustainability.
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