THE ROLE OF OLDER ADULT EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMES IN CLASS DYNAMICS IN OLD AGE

Paper Presented at the 'Global Aging: Working Together in a Changing World',
17th Congress of the International Association of Gerontology, 2nd July, 2001, Vancouver, British Colombia, Canada

Rationale

This research study originated from two significant concerns. First, was Carol Estes' (1999, p. 23) remark that "work on the [interrelationship between class and old age] is surprisingly underdeveloped". It is not difficult to substantiate Estes' (ibid.) claim considering the past two decades generated a meagre number of publications that investigated class dynamics in later life ­ which apart from a few notable exceptions, suffer from severe methodological and conceptual shortcomings, and rarely get beyond a mere description of attitudinal or value differences of old people from different classes. A second concern consisted in the awareness that despite that the field of educational gerontology has received notable attention, it suffers from a segregation between theoretical development and empirical research. Whilst the majority of research publications rarely went beyond the findings of survey research, attempts to develop abstract theoretical knowledge have unfortunately developed in Kenneth Burke's (1989, p. 282) terms, "words about words", that is abstract notions completely dissociated from everyday life.

In this respect, the aim of the research study being presented herein was precisely to bestow attention to the aforementioned lacunae, and to pursue a critical investigation of the interrelation between class and older adult education. The study was not intended to be a detailed empirical examination of a particular class theory or of a specific research tradition on class analysis. Nor did it aim to create a new kind of instrumental knowledge. It is only an attempt to generate a communicative understanding that will assist us to understand better come at a better understanding of later life and, as a result be in a better position to develop emancipatory knowledge.

Class Dynamics amongst Older Persons : The Exploratory Study

Faced with an extremely limited literature on class dynamics in later life, my first step included an exploratory study which I hoped would elicit the major variables of differentiation in later life, and consequently, a simplified class map of older persons. When investigating class dynamics it is impossible not to acknowledge the pervasive influence of either the Marxist/Weberian (Marx, 1967, 1983, and Engels, 1983; Weber, 1948, 1953) or determinist/voluntarist dichotomous conceptualisations of class. However, considering that older persons do not generally form part of the socially defined 'productive' sector of the economy (Estes, 1999), and the special characteristics of twentieth century society (Pakulski, 1993), it would have been highly myopic for the study to embed the concept of class in either the social relations of production or market situations. At the same time, the failure of determinist and voluntarist views of class to take account of the dialectical relationship between life chances and their symbolic representation makes such positions unsuitable to comprehend the prevalent societal shift from the 'productive' to the 'consumptive' sphere as the new basis of structural divisions and collective action. It was with such assumptions in mind that I embarked on an exploratory study which I hoped would elicit the major variables of class differentiation amongst older persons, and consequently, a simplified class map of older persons. Following the employment of critical reflection, focus groups, and semi-structured interviews as major methods, the exploratory study indicated strongly that despite the invisibility of older persons in class analysis, old age is not devoid of class distinctions. On the contrary, older persons are located in structural and subjective class locations which condition them to struggle constantly for improved positions. It also surfaced that 'modernist' sociological tools are inappropriate to investigate class dynamics in later life. Hence, an emergent resolution consisted of the abandonment of the materialist model in favour of a historical-multidimensional model of class ­ a conceptual perspective found in Pierre Bourdieu's (1966, 1984, 1987) social praxeology. Considering that both my exploratory study and actual investigation were highly influenced by Bourdieu's sociological insights, a brief overview of Bourdieu's oeuvre is highly relevant for an adequate understanding of the interpretation of results in the latter part of this research presentation.

Pierre Bourdieu's Social Praxeology

A fundamental issue in Bourdieu's (1990a : 31) sociology is to side-step the "absurd opposition between objectivism and subjectivism". Bourdieu (1990b) succeeded in avoiding such a false antimony by rejecting both rules and social action in favour of 'strategies', where action is 'regulated' rather than 'structured'. Bourdieu (1977) constructed his theory of strategic choices around the concepts of habitus, field and capital ­ where social practice results form their complex and dialectic interplay. The notion of habitus is central to Bourdieu's (1977) theory of practice since it is the main 'thinking tool' that endeavours to surpass the opposition between 'ontological individualism' and 'constituted practice'. Bourdieu developed this construct most fully in Outline of a Theory of Practice (1977), where he writes that habitus is :

structured structures predisposed to function as structuring structures... a system of lasting, transposable dispositions which, integrating past experiences, functions at every moment as a matrix of perceptions appreciations and actions and makes possible the achievement of infinitely diversified tasks, thanks to the analogical transfers of schemes permitting the solution of similarly shaped problemsÖ
Bourdieu, 1977 : 72, 82-3

Bourdieu's conception of the habitus essentially referred to the basic dispositions that people carry around in their heads as a result of living in particular cultures and particular environments (Bouveresse, 1999). According to Bourdieu (1977) such dispositions ensued from the 'result of an organising action', and constituted the habitus as a 'way of being, a habitual state', and especially, as a 'predisposition, tendency, propensity, or inclination'. The habitus is acquired primarily in childhood as a result of the internalisation of material conditions and the practices of surrounding adults. However, although members of different classes differ in the nature of their primary socialisation, each has its own characteristic habitus that 'brings about a unique integration, dominated by the earliest experiences statistically common to the members of the same class'.

Bourdieu (1993) sees the social context in which the habitus operates as a multidimensional space differentiated into distinct fields. The latter comprise networks of objective positions occupied by agents through their possession of different forms of capital. The field defines the structure of the social setting in which the habitus operates, and was delineated as

Öa configuration, of objective relations between positionsÖ objectively defined, in their existence and in the determinations they impose on their occupants, agents or institutions, by their present and potential situation in the structure of the distribution of species of power (or capital)Ö
Bourdieu and Wacquant, 1992 : 97

An interesting imagery in Bourdieu's (1984 : 244) explanations of the field is that of the military, where Bourdieu compared it to an arena "of strategic emplacements, fortresses to be defended and captured in a field of struggles".

The field's struggles and conflict, through which actors incessantly establish higher positions, revolves constantly around capital. The accumulation of capital represents, in Bourdieu's (1998) theory of practice, the objective of all human activity. However, 'capital' is not granted a solely economic meaning, but signifies essentially a resource which yields power. Bourdieu's main creative perception was that, in addition to economic capital, he pointed other immaterial forms of capital - cultural, symbolic and social (Calhoun, 1993). 'Cultural capital' refers to a wide range of "informational" resources such as language, cultural awareness, aesthetic preferences, and education credentials. Symbolic capital involves the capacity to impose the legitimate vision of the social world and refers to signs of the dispositions and classificatory schemes that can either betray one's real origins and trajectory through social life or else can become manipulated to communicate false origins and trajectories. Finally, social capital designates the aggregate of the actual or potential resources which are linked to the possession of a durable network of persons.

Throughout all of Bourdieu's work, one finds a consistent preoccupation with class as both a determinant of life trajectory and a key feature of social structure (Cashmore and Rojek, 1994). Bourdieu's class analysis is rooted in an early article, Condition de classes et position de classes (1966), where he went at great lengths to differentiate between 'class condition' and  'class position'. Whilst he associated class condition with the fundamental conditions of existence (i.e. economic power - which represent the material conditions that set the broad parameters for class positions), the properties of class position were ascribed to symbolic distinctions that emerge from the oppositions and affinities between classes (i.e. status distinction - which correspond to that form of class struggle emerging from ostensibly nonmaterial distinctions). In a later publication, Bourdieu (1987 : 13) compared social classes to "a flame whose edges are in constant movement, oscillating around a line or surface". Hence a class is a multidimensional phenomenon and cannot be reduced to a single casual mechanism such as the economy, and is defined as "much by its being-perceived as by its being, by its consumption ­ which need not be conspicuous in order to be symbolic as much to its position in the relations of production".

On a more practical level, Bourdieu (1990a) conceived of classes as comprising of 'sets of people having the same habitus' in the same or diverse fields. The closer their positions are, the more likely do persons share similarities in their habitus, and therefore the more possible it is that they will share a collective recognition of their identity as distinct from other classes (Joppke, 1987). Bourdieu (1993) argued that one can locate a person's class positions through highlighting those sets of agents who occupy similar positions and who, being placed in similar conditions and submitted to similar types of conditioning, have every chance of producing similar practices and adopting similar stances. Bourdieu (1984, 1987) also argued that one can locate a person's class position through 'objective' and 'subjective' indicators. Whilst the objective indicator of one's class position refers to one's occupation, the subjective indicator of class concerns one's own opinion. Thus Bourdieu injected a 'symbolic dimension' in his theoretical dimension of social classes where the habitus' subjective ideas, personality traits, and instances of consciousness become of central importance in determining the social class positions.

Another central tenet found Bourdieu's class analysis is the belief that in modern societies the principal mode of domination has shifted from overt coercion to symbolic manipulation. In Distinction, Bourdieu (1984) attempted to highlight how all the inherited and acquired cultural performances of everyday life, are deployed through flaunting, display, investment, and trade, to maintain or enhance a position in the order of class domination - how art and cultural consumption are predisposed, consciously and deliberately or not, to fulfil a social function of legitimising social differences. Bourdieu explained this belief by highlighting the fact that in modern societies symbolic practices serve as 'structuring structure' - a means for ordering and understanding the social world and exercising a communicative and social integration function. In Bourdieu's words

One can see how it is that the manner of pursuing symbolic goods, especially those regarded as the attributes of excellence, constitutes one of the key markers of "class" and also the ideal weapon in strategies of distinctionÖ
Bourdieu, 1984, p. 66

Moreover, symbolic systems function to rank groups in the social space and legitimise this social ranking by encouraging the dominated to accept the existing hierarchies of social distinction. Symbolic practices thus dictate a 'sense of place' in the social order and thereby fulfil the social closure functions of inclusion and exclusion.

Considering the focus of our empirical study, it is highly pertinent to note that for Bourdieu (1990a) argued that in contemporary societies, the field of education, more than the family, church or the business ethic, is the primary institutional setting for the production, transmission and accumulation of social power. In Bourdieu's (Bourdieu and Passeron, 1977) rationale education is envisaged as a part of a larger macrocosm of symbolic institutions that reproduce existing power relations subtly through the engendering and distribution of a culture that is consistent with the dominant classes' interests. By operating as a 'cultural arbitrary' and performing 'symbolic violence', the educational institution has the potential to impose dominant culture as 'legitimate' by concealing the power relations which are the basis of its force, and at the same time, communicating a logic of disinterest. Therefore, when education goes about educating, it is essentially trying to impose and solidify the dominant classes' culture on a superior level in respect to popular culture under the guise of legitimate order. In this respect educational institutions aid the dominant classes in establishing and enhancing their social power in three major ways. First, the dominant classes are able to exercise power and influence by transforming 'culture arbitrariness' into universal forms of meaning. Secondly, the established inequalities are maintained by privileging certain cultural heritages and penalising other. Finally, without any direct forms of control and surveillance, the oppressed partake in their own subjugation by accepting the educational system's cultural arbitrariness.

Older Persons and Social Class - Results from the Exploratory Study

The class model is historical because older persons' class positions in later life do not result from coexisting conditions but have more and more to do with conditions of past existence shaped by both the politico-historical structure and individual life course. It is also multidimensional because position in the class system is determined by more than one type of capital. The study confirmed the prevalence of Bourdieu's four categories of capital, namely, economic, cultural, social, and symbolic. However, it also pointed to two other fundamental capital resources, gender, and functional independence. In the attempt of setting a theoretical class map of older persons on the aforementioned principles, it became increasingly evident that Past Occupational Categories constitute a basic objective indicator. Such a statement must not be mistaken as a contradiction to the model stated above as I firmly believe that nothing else would be more unsociological than diverse percentages of different past occupations. Following Bourdieu's (1984) unorthodox methodology, past occupational categories were utilised only as a means to indicate older person's societal history, that is, to convey volume of capital, composition of capital, and social trajectory. Such methodology enabled me to locate older persons' habitus which according to Bourdieu represents the key to comprehend class positions and action in any given social field. The habitus, which theoretically is an alternative answer to the solutions offered by determinism and voluntarism, refers to a system of durable dispositions that are predisposed to function as structuring structures, that is, as principles which generate and organise practices that are objectively adapted to goals but without presupposing a rational mechanisms. More simply, the habitus essentially concerns the basic dispositions that people carry around in their heads as a result of living in particular cultures and particular environments.

Results highlighted five theoretical class positions of older persons. Starting with the most dominant class, which I have termed as The Elite, these constitute older persons who held both a high and legitimate volume of various capital. Such persons' habitus is characterised an ethos of ease, a confident relation to world and the self which consequently generated a high degree of casualness, grace, facility, elegance, and freedom. The elite tend to be male and to have a rich social lineage. Here, one should note that families in which only wives had an elite position, were less sure of their rank elite position and at times held a subjective class position that was closer to their husbands' rank.

The first intermediary class constituted of the Bourgeoisie. A more critical analysis of such a class uncovers three major modalities within such a group, depending on whether their position is steady, rising or declining in relation to the elite. The Rising Bourgeoisie are older persons who joined this through upward mobility. They aspire to elite distinction but have neither the legitimate capital nor the habitus to really achieve it. Their habitus was characterised by a high degree of thrift, acquisition, accumulation, and an appetite for possession inseparable from permanent anxiety from property ­ all of which conveys the fundamental ambiguity of a class that wishes to escape identification with the working class but which at the same time lacks the perquisite resources to cultivate the lifestyle of the dominant class it emulates. The bourgeoisie can be perhaps best exemplified with a popular television comedy entitled "Keeping up Appearances" in which the story line is provided by the female main character's relentless efforts to display the bourgeois' legitimate consumption behaviours but who is constantly frustrated by the behaviour of her decidedly working-class relatives. Whilst she aims at respectability, and at picking cues from the upper classes about how and what to consume, her sisters are more interested in trying to have a 'good time' in direct pleasures.

The 'Steady' or 'Old' Bourgeoisie are older persons who were born into families which were already positioned in such a social space. Their habitus was thus endowed with a well-armed pretension, based on a familiarity with culture combined with high social origins. They are also confident of their class, even perhaps deeming it as more refined that the elite position, and are above all distinguished by the absence of anxiety that characterises the rising bourgeoisie. Finally, the 'Declining' Bourgeoisie are older persons with above average, but nevertheless, limited capital. Their habitus is tainted by regressive dispositions which are no doubt the source of their repressive inclinations, particularly visible in their resistance against every sign of departure from the old order. Convinced that they owe their position, even if diminished, to a simple, serious, honest life, they adhere to the most austere and traditional values which can be located in their special resentment against the new lax morality but being in favour of the values of work, order and rigour.

The third major social class consisted of the Working Class, that is, older persons who hold a low volume of capital. Their habitus is characterised by both of what is technically necessary, practical, and of what is imposed by an economic and social necessity. Thus they are inclined towards a pragmatic functional aesthetic, a refusal the gratuity and futility of formal exercises and of every art for art's sake, and a perspective of all aesthetic intentions as abnormal behaviour. Finally, one also locates an Under Class consisting of older persons who were located at the bottom of the class structure or even outside it - older persons with severe functional problems, mental disabilities, or overly secluded in old age residential homes with no real contact with the normal world. Such older persons' habitus is an almost obsolete entity, since they tend to be totally powerless, dependent on others, and are constantly abused by both the social system and personal individuals.

However, as you are aware the above classes exist only 'on paper' ­ as theoretical scientific constructs making sense only to social scientists. Real classes do not consist of such structures of categories but only exist in a cultural and relational setting. Whilst the former refers to any kind of symbolic expression that makes sense of the world, of society, and of one's social position, the latter brings attention to the fact that in real life it is impossible to pick classes as groups of individuals and that real classes only become apparent in antagonistic and dependent cultural relations. Hence, class consciousness is in old age was not distinguished a subjective awareness of similar class positions but identical cultural textures. Theoretical class structures only exist in practice through collective cultural constructions which are generated in historical specific life-forms taking the form of investments in and display of cultural and symbolic distinctions. This explains why old age is so devoid of collectivist and organisational classes for cultural textures do not lead us into classes, but only to cultural forms. Class struggle and action are thus deployed through symbolic distinctions ranging from mundane everyday preferences in food and clothing to much refined cultural tastes. Although such actions may be presented as being disinterested they served as social classifiers that serve to rank individuals and groups in the stratification order, which thus embody an underlying logic of inclusion and exclusion, as well as dictating a sense of place in the social order strongest barriers between classes. Hence, class struggle is essentially classification struggle, class power is nomination power, and class action is the accumulation of symbolic power.

Older Adult Education

Universities of The Third Age : An Introduction

At the same time that I was involved in the aforementioned exploratory study, I was also pursuing field research at the University of the Third Age in Valletta, the only Maltese older adult educational programme in Malta. The idea for a University of the Third Age (U3A) was first proposed in 1973 to the University of Toulouse by Pierre Vellas. The primary aims of the first U3A were to raise the quality of life of older people, realise a permanent educational programme for older people in close relations with other age groups, accomplish gerontological research programmes, and complement initial and permanent education programmes in gerontology (Vellas, 1997). Since its inception, the U3A movement has developed into a global adult education success story, spreading to all continents, and amounting to several thousand units with varying structures and programmes (Louis, 1995; Swindell and Thompson, 1995). There is no dominant preferred model of U3As (Swindell, 1995) with "variety being the spice of U3A life" (Midwinter 1984 : 18). Nevertheless, one can classify U3As in two major archetypes: the French and British U3A models - both of which have been successful in establishing branches outside their countries of origin (Laslett, 1996). U3As, following the Francophone model, tend to be affiliated with a formal university, and rely on university facilities and faculty members for both organisational and teaching responsibilities (Swindell, 1997). Moreover, such universities tend to be funded by the government - although the learning body is expected to pay a nominal fee (Williamson, 1997). On the other hand, the British U3A model has embraced only the Francophone's 'spirit' rather than its 'form' (Withnall and Percy, 1994). British U3As, which follow the self-help philosophy, are not automatically linked to an existing university, and, indeed, few benefit from such support. They consist of a body of persons who undertake to learn and to help others learn, and who would undertake the roles of both teachers and learners (Midwinter, 1996). The British U3As curriculum is as wide as its human and financial resources permit, but the preference of members is the only criterion of what is done (Minichiello, 1992). Which U3A model is adopted, depends on a variety of circumstances including "the philosophical positions of programme founders, economic circumstances, and the likelihood of assistance from tertiary education institutions sympathetic to the U3A ideal" (Swindell, 1997 : 478). Yet, irrespective of which model is adopted, the underlying principles remain the same (Picton and Lidgard, 1997).

The Maltese Experience

Malta is a relative latecomer in establishing its University of the Third Age, or as we call it in our native tongue, the Università Tat-Tielet Eta' (U3E). The U3E was eventually launched in January 1993 in the French tradition by forming part of the University of Malta and thus could draw on some 20 years of European experience (Schembri, 1997). The U3E is governed by a mission statement, written and developed by university academics, declaring specifically that the U3E aims to provide older persons with educational opportunities as an end in themselves. It is controlled by two main committees. Whilst the academic matters are run by a board made up of university academics, the U3E's co-ordinator, and one representative from the U3E' learning body - on the other hand, the social undertakings are managed by an 'Association' which acts in liaison with the University of Malta. The U3E is open to everybody over 60 years of age ready to pay a nominal fee, and offers no hindrances or obstacles to potential members.

Most members were aged between 66 and 70, female, married, and living in the vicinity of the U3E's premises. The majority of members had attained at least a 'secondary education', and consequently, very few had no qualifications - the majority holding secondary education certificates and/or teacher's college certificates and being previously employed in managerial or professional occupations. Considering the high majority of illiterate older persons in Malta (the 1995 census [Centre for Statistics, 1998] lists 26% of persons over 60 years of age as being illiterate), I queried U3E members as to whether there were any illiterate members amongst the U3E's body. The answer was always either negative or inconclusive. However, most informers held that illiteracy and U3E membership are two variables that are not easily found together. Yet, in spite of the perceived high percentage of literacy levels (and educational attainment) held by members, there was a substantial number who acknowledged that they did not understand most of the arguments and logical statements put forward by the lecturers.

As can be expected, given the declared levels of educational attainment and qualifications, most members had occupied posts in white-collar or professional occupations prior to retiring, and whilst no male member was unemployed, very few females were full-time homemakers. Many male and female members expressed their disappointment at the fact that they were forced to retire when reaching the height of their intellectual abilities and after attaining extensive experience:

I never wished to retire. I was happy at work. Managing the organisation provided me with a high level of satisfaction as well stable relationships with colleagues at work. The first days of retirement also proved to be a painful experienceÖThe U3E proved to be good thing. It gave me something to look forward to and a new role in society. I became involved in a promising organisation and consequently found a new identityÖ[Male U3E member]

The relinquishing of occupational roles was deemed by U3E members as decreasing their status, prestige, and consequently, self-esteem:

In the final years, I was already feeling good for nothing. Everyday processes at work were modernised to such an extent that I could not cope with the modern technologyÖRetirement was the final blow. At work I enjoyed the respect of my work matesÖAttending the U3E made me feel a contributor again. Attending lectures and feeling accepted by fellow members gave me the prestige I had lost through retirementÖ[Male U3E member]

As a result of my non-participant observation, I perceived that most U3E members tended to incorporate a middle-class culture, which was later backed up by my survey data. Most members arrived for the Valletta lecture with a copy of The Times (Malta) ­ a dominant symbol of middle-class status, and various members could be overheard flaunting the prestigious positions and significant roles they occupied before retirement, as well as the many honourable deeds performed during their adult life. Most members communicated on title-surname basis - especially in opposite-sex interaction, spoke with idealistic overtones, were cynical of the routine and pragmatical pattern of practice, and used various Italian and English words to express their ideas. During conversations various members (but especially females) expressed their condemnation of idle youth, drug addicts, and unemployed -  describing them as 'social parasites'. Members regarded achievement and success in occupational structures as dominant acceptable yardsticks to measure one's accomplishments in life. In addition, the pronoun 'we' was used extensively when referring to the membership body. On asking for a clarification behind the use of pronoun, many members maintained that it signified cultured older persons 'who possessed a good level of education and cultured taste'.

When asked about the major motivations that influenced them in enrolling in the U3E, many members highlighted a combination of cognitive (e.g. 'making up for lost educational opportunities') and social reasons (e.g. 'my friend used to go' and 'to meet knowledgeable people'). The belief that 'education is valuable for its own sake, rather than for utilitarian purposes' was also a popular motive. At the same time, many members stressed the U3E's social benefits:

the U3E gives me an opportunity to meet people that have similar interestsÖto make new acquaintancesÖto help me wile away the timeÖto build a new life after the death of my husbandÖthere is nothing much to do now that I had to retire and the children got marriedÖ[Female U3E member]

Upon querying whether they attended other social clubs, almost all members replied in the negative. One informer commented as follows :

On retirement I quickly found myself having abundant leisure time. At first I started frequenting local and political clubs but I never felt at ease. Topics discussed did not interest meÖnot even the jokes. In the meantime, I also used to come to Valletta where I lingered about incessantlyÖBut again, I felt lostÖI heard about the U3E for the first time from an old school acquaintance. I decided to try it out. I never looked backÖI feel at ease in this environmentÖthat is, other members and lecture topicsÖand feel that I am engaging in something worth followingÖI am not wasting my time hereÖI feel that I have found my good old self again hereÖ[Male U3E member]

I also asked about perceived possible reasons why many old persons in Malta do not join the U3E. Many members expressed the view that the U3E's lectures are of a high standard and that many older persons do not have the necessary educational background to comprehend the lecturers' presentations. A typical comment included :

It is true that any older person can enrol in the U3E. But what's the use of attending university lectures if one does not have the necessary educational background. You have to remember that a large percentage of older persons are illiterate. A larger percentage are illiterate in the English language. It is impossible for such older persons to participate fully in the U3E. Non-educated older persons would find it very difficult to understand the lectures, and also that, they would find it similarly troublesome to converse with many of the present U3E membersÖ[Female U3E member]

In fact, the U3E co-ordinator believed that the U3E suits best older persons who have 'an adequate level of education', that is, who 'understand English, and Maltese, and know how to writeÖ[and]Öhave a secondary level  education'. Most members were against the idea of providing low standard education since this would demean the institutions' role (sic). Some members stressed older persons' 'lack of confidence and fears' about 'formal education' as other potential barriers to membership. Very few members pointed towards transport and health problems as the primary reasons why many elders do not join the U3E.  When I inquired whether the title 'university' might be another potential factor preventing people from participating, many members appeared perplexed at this suggestion since most of them had joined the U3E precisely because they were attracted by the term in question. Many members were certain that the word 'university' was not the reason for the high level of absenteeism. On the contrary, they were against its removal and believed that if such an action would be carried out, the U3E would lose both its overall meaning and status. One member, albeit acknowledging the fact that the title 'university' may denote a high standard of educational practice and that it could discourage older persons with low levels of formal education from seeking membership in the U3E, was quick to add

But what can one do? If it is removed, it can function the other way round, that is, deterring people like me who would like to dedicate their free time in retirement to pursuing educational activities as ends in themselvesÖat least it functions to give older persons a sense of identity, something which they, that is we, have lost due to mandatory discriminatory policiesÖpoliticians never retireÖwhy do they condemn other persons to idle time in their old ageÖif they tampered even with the U3E's status, now that we have something in our favour, I would be very angryÖ[Male U3E member]

The U3E, following the liberal tradition, offers courses which are not intended to lead their participants to obtain economic and other maternal benefits although one notices some exceptions such as Health Promotion in the Elderly, Taking up Photography as a Hobby and A Basic Course in Modern Gardening. Well-attended lectures included History and Appreciation of Art, Religions of the Mediterranean,  Malta's Middle Ages: Culture Switching, Europe and the Mediterranean in the Middle Ages,  The Rise of Islam in the Mediterranean, and Malta Under British Rule. Although the level of academic content in most subjects, is judged to be high, attendees are not expected to sit for exams, but to engage in learning as an end in itself. When questioned what this educational initiative meant to them, various members stressed the importance of being knowledgeable in 'culture', accepted the authority of liberal subjects and abstract theory, and deemed utilitarian education as being of a lower standard. One member commented that:

It is not only important to read, listen to lectures, go abroad and listen to music. Not all authors, books, countries, and music are cultured. My friends and I agree that one must be selective when following educational pursuitsÖIt is important to read cultured books, no Mills and Boom, but Sartre and Dickens for exampleÖVenice and Florence are cultured cities but, for instance, Catania [Sicily] is notÖcan you deem current music as cultured? Well, with the exception of a handful, for example PavarottiÖMozart and Verdi are the real musiciansÖ everything else is a waste of timeÖ[Male U3E member]

Another argued that :

it is important that all persons, including older persons, are not only economically comfortable, but that they are rich in cultureÖto be able to converse on a broad range of cultural topics such as history and literatureÖto have a high level of analytical skills through which one can criticise. Education in general focuses too much on subjects that enable you to find better jobs or skills that will enable you to make or save money. However, it is also important that one learns subjects that do not have any economic returnsÖ[Female U3E member]

The tutors are non-U3E members and are either full-time or part-time university lecturers. They are engaged by the University and are paid university rates. The dominant pedagogical style used in U3E lectures is didactic in format without allowing any possibility for any free discussion on the subject. Most lectures then progressed in a monologue fashion in which the lecturer assumed the position of the 'speaker' and the members that of  'listeners'; in other words subscribing to whathas been termed as 'education from above' where the lecturer strives to teach the higher forms of knowledge, with attendees expecting to be 'filled' with the procured legitimate knowledge. No observed lecturer engaged in guided discussions, mentoring, tutorials, brainstorming, debates, seminars, projects, case studies, visits, tours, field trips, and workshops as alternative methods.

Discussion

Preliminary Findings

The U3E serves as a major catalyst for the enhancement of the quality of older persons' lives and society in general. My fieldwork experience indicated clearly that the U3E injects a sense of creativity in older persons; makes older persons more visible in society; aids lonely older persons to resocialise themselves in society by enabling them to form new groups and increase living interests; develops amongst older learners a lofty and progressive delight of life; increases the level of social solidarity and integration between older persons; improves members' abilities of understanding the objective world by aiding them to grasp better world development and social progress; ameliorates older persons' self-health by enabling them to improve their medical care knowledge and disease prevention; addresses various intellectual, emotional, physical, leisure, and spiritual needs of older persons; provides older persons with the opportunity to organise and co-ordinate social/cultural activities, thus making their life more fruitful and energetic; and finally, provides opportunities, stimulation, patterns, and content for the use and structure of the older persons' free-time which would otherwise be characterised by inactivity.

When investigating the major forces responsible for motivating older persons to enrol in the U3E, current members highlighted a combination of cognitive (e.g. 'making up for lost educational opportunities') and social reasons (e.g. 'my friend used to go' and 'to meet knowledgeable people'). These results are hardly unexpected since they constitute the primary aims of the U3E. Thus, the rational forces guiding older persons to seek membership in the U3E are easily evident. Experiencing an ample volume of leisure time, older persons may feel that they have nothing to lose by joining the institution. However, it is also clear that older adult educational programmes contain hidden features. A critical study of older educational practice must move beyond the conviction that older persons' decision to join up is solely influenced by rational factors, since one cannot negate the  immense symbolic significance that arises from obtaining membership in clubs and organisations. If rational factors were the only reasons why older persons sought membership in the U3E, then the learning body would have been characterised by a high level of heterogeneity. Nevertheless, even though there are no official requirements for enrolment, except having surpassed one's sixtieth birthday, fieldwork data detected an average classification of typical U3E members. Combining Bourdieu's (1984, 1987) asserted 'objective' and subjective qualities of social classes with the elicited data, typical U3E members can be located within the petite bourgeoisie class. First, their life-course projection equipped them with a high level of cultural and social capital but moderate economic capital when compared to lower and upper class older persons. And secondly, many perceived themselves to be relatively better educated and 'cultured' when compared to the rest of the elderly population, and consequently, utilized the pronoun "we" to refer to the U3E learning body in a consistent manner. This similar position was based not on 'economic power' but on 'tact', 'taste' and 'style'. Analysing further the fieldwork data, typical members can be located within Bourdieu's (1984) 'new' segment of petite bourgeoisie. Members embodied a continuous pursuit of aristocratic qualities, expressive lifestyles, an eagerness to instruct themselves in the bourgeois ethos of freedom, as well as a close affinity with traditional intellectuals (since the latter were perceived as members of the dominant class). They also held a conventionalist and traditionalist attitude towards leisure, dress, politics, values, humanist studies, and linguistic usage; and demonstrated a dominant preference for expressive learning - a 'taste for pretension' that is detached from the mundane necessities of everyday life. The high level of homogeneity amongst the U3E's learning body, leads invariably to the logical deduction that membership proceeds from other irrational factors rather than from a conscious deliberation to enrol oneself in an organisation that provides educational, cultural and social activities. The uncovering of such irrational factors necessitates the grounding of both the concept of educational practice and later life in a critical perspective. This is what I intend to do in the following sub-section.

A Critical Interpretation

Combining the exploratory study with the fieldwork experiences, typical U3A members can be located within the bourgeoisie, especially within the rising category. First, their life-course projection equipped them with a high level of cultural and social capital but moderate economic capital when compared to the elite. Secondly, many perceived themselves to hold a similar identity vis-à-vis other older persons, that is, of holding a better cultured self. Here it is important to notice that this similar position was based not on 'economic power' but on 'tact', 'taste' and 'style'. And finally, members embodied an eagerness to instruct themselves in the elite ethos of freedom. At the same time they also held a conventionalist and traditionalist attitude towards leisure, dress, politics, values, humanist studies, and linguistic usage; and demonstrated a dominant preference for expressive learning - a 'taste for pretension' that is detached from the mundane necessities of everyday life.

A critical interpretation of the results presupposes that membership proceeds from other irrational factors rather than from a conscious deliberation to enrol in an organisation that provides educational, cultural and social activities. Integrating both the exploratory study and field research it becomes evident that mandatory retirement stimulates a downward mobility of both one's objective and subjective class position. Retirement forces older persons to an arena of role ambiguity, to become dependent on the state welfare system, and strips them of their 'social worth' in society, thus shifting one's position from one of 'achievement' to 'ascription'. All retirees tend to become structurally located within an identical position in the social space ­ that of 'pensioners' or 'dependants'. Previous identities and statuses associated with one's occupational position are erased and become meaningless. Albeit retirement brings certain rewards in terms of leisure time, it also threatens the self-image of an individual by increasing their independence and hence the threat of stigmatisation.

Without doubt, mandatory retirement causes major alterations in older persons' objective and subjective position in the field of power. Retirement forces older persons to an arena of role ambiguity, to become dependent on the state welfare system, and strips them of their 'social worth' in society. This occurs primarily, because in modern societies, income and status derive predominantly from productive employment. Once retirement age is reached, one's position in the 'social space' changes from that of 'achievement' to one of 'ascription'. All retirees tend to become structurally located within an identical position in the social space ­ that of 'pensioners' or 'dependants'. Previous identities and statuses associated with one's occupational position are erased and become meaningless. This is well documented in both long-standing (e.g. Cowgill and Holmes, 1972; Dowd, 1980) and contemporary (e.g. Harris, 1990; Posner, 1995) gerontological literature. Turner (1989 : 601), for instance, commented that while, in principle, retirement brings "certain rewards in terms of leisure, [it] also threatens the self-image of an individual by increasing their independence and hence the threat of stigmatisation". However, it is also true that such structural pressures are experienced differently by distinct groups, according to their diverse resources. Throughout their lives, working class persons have never occupied a high position in the 'social space' and may even perceive retirement as a kind of liberation from their exploitative situation. At the other end of the social ladder, entrepreneurial and upper class persons would still own a sufficient volume of 'economic' capital to retain their position in the 'social space'.

Historically, the middle classes ­ especially the upwardly mobile - were particularly vulnerable to cyclical movements in their economic position when compared to working and upper class citizens since the former would have spent their life accumulating and holding 'cultural capital' and 'symbolic power' to hold the edge over their adult contemporaries. Their status and class position was derived particularly from their high level of educational attainment and qualifications that in turn granted them access to 'prestigious' occupation positions. The latter served as a major symbolic strategy to solve this concern throughout their middle years. However, on retirement, their class condition became disconnected from their class position. Whilst their class position occupied a higher level with in the social space, their class condition sent contradicting messages, leading to an individual 'status inconsistency'.

Therefore it is not surprising that the rising bourgeoisie' attempt to enrol in new arenas for moral and practical support as well as to reassert their previous and intended position in the social space. Like social classes, same generation  individuals have a common location in the social and historic process, and which thereby limits them to a specific range of potential experience, predisposing them for a certain characteristic mode of thought and experience and a characteristic type of historically relevant action (Mannheim, 1997). One common strategy is joining organisations since it incorporates several benefits ­ such as an opportunity for self-expression, a sense of security, a supportive network, and a chance to confront some of the ambiguity and losses of retirement. However, the most important function of enrolment in organisations, consists in the recovering of forfeited or new identities. Of all the available social clubs, it is those which are intimately associated with 'legitimate capital' that bestow the greatest amount of status (Bocock, 1993). These include historical associations, political organisations, and above all, educational institutions. This occurs because educational institutions act as cultural arbitraries whose unacknowledged aim is the imposing of legitimate cultural predispositions. Therefore, the drive towards the attainment of membership at the U3A must not be perceived as a mere coincidence, but as a symbolic strategy in the class struggle.

Membership provides learners to acquire the label of 'cultured' or 'cultivated' with respect to the rest of the older adult population. In the same way that books and paintings are used to impress neighbours, friends and other social viewers, membership in the U3A is employed as a strategy to obtain and compete for social honour. Through the U3A, rising bourgeoisie older persons can sustain or even augment their values of achievement and independence, and combat the incurred symbolic losses resulting from retirement. To clarify this position, it is opportune to refer to a television interview where Bourdieu used the metaphor of a casino (Alheit, 1999). In everyday life, according to Bourdieu, we are equipped with three types of chips: black, blue and red. Bourdieu matched black chips with economic capital, blue chips with cultural capital, and red chips with social capital. To Bourdieu's comparisons, one may add the existence of white chips as referring to symbolic capital. In old age, retirement depletes the rising bourgeoisie of their lifelong accumulation of black and red chips, despite their retaining a high volume of blue chips. Yet, it is evident that such a type of capital is not self-evident, and therefore, does not enable them to retain their previously high level in the social space. The only strategy left to such rising bourgeoisie older persons, in order to elevate their position in the social space, is through the manipulation of white chips in the hope that a successful deployment will result in an upwardly mobile stride in society's social ladder.

It can be thus argued that membership in the U3E can be perceived as a strategy to symbolise their relative higher quantities of 'blue chips'. In this respect, the U3E becomes a strategy of peer grouping that engages in collective rituals to ameliorate their situation. Referring again to Bourdieu's casino metaphor, not every older person can procure 'blue chips' easily. The conducted interviews elicited that both the U3E's co-ordinator as well one of the U3E's founders believe that non-educated older persons will find it very difficult to keep track of what is going on at the U3E, and consequently, posited old age day-centres as alternative clubs for these older persons. This advocates a differentiated system that highlights a demarcation between older persons attending the U3E and other peers. Thus, in its extreme form, U3E membership is co-ordinated as a system of 'social closure', admitting only particular kinds of social groups, depending on their volume of cultural and social capital.

At the same time, Bourdieu's concept of habitus exposes why the strategic potential of the U3E is not usurped by entrepreneurial and working class older persons. The habitus, as highlighted previously, refers to transposable dispositions which, integrating past experiences, functions at every moment as a matrix of perceptions, appreciations and actions. Therefore, only older persons equipped with an educational disposition that influences them to pursue methodical reasoning, analytical language, cultural awareness, and aesthetic theorising, will perceive the strategic potential of the U3E and feel at ease within the institutions' ethos. As the continuity paradigm found in theoretical social gerontology asserts, older persons select alternatives consonant with who they have been  and what they have done in the past. External continuity is maintained by being and doing in familiar environments, practising familiar skills and interacting with familiar people (Atchley 1989). This also explains why older persons tended not to join other local clubs since the latter reflect a different cultural arbitrary, one predicated on 'popular culture'. Confronted with such an incompatibility between their intellectual habitus and the popular temperament found in local clubs, new petite older persons felt uneasy since these environments were not consistent with their life-long dispositions. Surely, the U3E in Malta, with its emphasis on liberal subjects, middle-class values and distinct geographical position, provided an alternative and more congenial atmosphere. Undoubtedly, persons who would have been continually socialised in formal educational environments are prone to romanticising their past role and to looking forward to a return to any available conventionally educational field. Furthermore, with their successful period of education in the past still lingering in their memory, it is not surprising that they embrace so readily the U3E's aesthetic and intellectual values. To them it meant going back to an arena in which they feel confident and self-assured of its outcome and development.

Fieldwork data also indicated a resistance by the learning body towards the removal of the term 'university' from the organisations' title. The term 'university' is a class-infused term and is unlikely to be adopted by any society whose membership is predominately working-class since it has elitist connotations. Yet, such a term constituted the primary basis for the organisations' high level of social privilege. Without such terminology, the U3E would not have been perceived as superior to local social clubs. The organisations' power to legitimise intellectual culture would have been severely undermined. The choice of such a term is unfortunate for two major reasons: first, because U3As were primarily founded to improve the quality of life of all older persons and not solely one particular ingroup of elders (this is even more lamentable when one considers that the U3E derived its funds from the University of Malta which in turn is financed by the Maltese government); and secondly, for losing track of Vellas's mediaeval interpretation of the term universitas ­ as a corporation of persons devoted to a particular activity (Minichiello, 1992) ­ not in any way referring to the awarding of degrees, diplomas, or any other kind of elite certification. As Midwinter (1984 : 4) asserted, the use of this term is a "slight tongue-in-cheek feature of the deployment of the word university', and not only 'cocks a perky snook at the conventional university' but 'by implication, criticises it".

Conclusion

The U3E in Valletta represents yet another commendable effort to enhance the quality of older persons' lives by dealing with the increasing longevity, as well as contesting the erroneous suppositions that associate ageing with predestined physical and mental decline. However, a critical interpretation of the field research affirms three major conclusions. First, results emphasised that despite the invisibility of older persons in class analysis, old age is not devoid of class distinctions. On the contrary, older persons are located in structural and subjective class locations which condition them to struggle constantly for improved positions. Secondly, class formation and action in later life is distinguished by cultural textures that take the form of investments in and display of symbolic distinctions.

Finally, similar to traditional educational systems older adult education is essentially a political activity, and if siding with a dominant class fraction, will form part of a large macrocosm of symbolic institutions that reproduce subtly existing power relations. In this respect, the U3E acted as an institutionalised classifier that reproduced the existing social hierarchies since its pedagogical work acted in favour of the interests of middle class older persons as well as against their working class peers. This occured through the U3E's giving legitimacy to the rising bourgeoisie's culture and through its perpetration of 'symbolic violence' by subjugating lower class learners to alien tastes and values. For this segment, membership and participation at the U3E was utilised as a strategy to sustain in retirement the high status position in the 'social space' held during their pre-retirement years. Hence, membership was manipulated to denote both private and public expressions of general distinctiveness. Personally, such a strategy can be viewed as a strategy for demonstrating intellectual fitness, which, in turn, is rewarded by a sense of distinction within the peer group. Publicly, it demonstrates one's position in the social strata against the commercial and the working classes.

References