Abstract
This article investigates the discursive practices of older first-time parents in interview interaction. Our focus is on the ways in which cultural notions surrounding the timing of parenthood are mobilised, and how speakers orient to potential discrepancies between the category ‘parent’ and their own stage of life (SOL) or age category. The data corpus comprises qualitative interviews with 15 heterosexual couples and individuals in the UK who became parents between the ages of 35–57 years. Examining reproductive biographical talk at midlife at a time when the average age of first time parents is rising and delayed parenting is increasing across Western countries provides a testing ground for the analysis of norms concerning the ‘right time’ of lifetime transitions, and age-appropriateness more generally. Inspired by Elizabeth Freeman’s notion of ‘chrononormativity’, our analysis demonstrates that ‘older parents’ engage in considerable discursive work to bridge temporal aspects of their parenthood. Moreover, we show how the notion of chrononormativity can be theoretically and empirically elaborated through the adoption of membership categorisation and discourse analysis. In explicating how taken-for-granted, temporal notions of lifespan events are mobilised, our findings contribute to research on age-in-interaction, social identity and categorisation, and on the methodology for analysing the discursive age-order and chrononormativity more broadly.
About the authors
Virpi Ylänne is Senior Lecturer in Language and Communication at Cardiff University, Wales, UK. Her research interests and most publications focus on discourse and lifespan identity in text, talk, and advertising and media imagery. She is also currently carrying out collaborative research on multiple roles and goals in nurse communication. Address for correspondence: Centre for Language and Communication Research, ENCAP, Cardiff University, John Percival Building, Colum Drive, Cardiff, CF10 3EU, Wales, UK, Email: Ylanne@cardiff.ac.uk.
Pirjo Nikander is Research Director of the Doctoral School at Tampere University, Finland. Her research interests include discursive psychology, ageism, inclusion and exclusion in working life, and the baby boom generation. Her publications include handbook chapters and articles on research ethics, discourse analysis, membership categorisation analysis, and transcription and translation. She has also co-edited books on women and ageing and the analysis of interviews. Address for correspondence: The Doctoral School, Tampere University, FIN-33014 Tampere, Finland, Email: Pirjo.Nikander@tuni.fi
Acknowledgements
We wish to thank Alex Butterworth, Jessie Whittaker, Xin Dai and Dorottya Cserzö (all at Cardiff University) for their assistance in coding and transcribing the interview data. We also thank Prof. Alison Wray, Prof. Michael Handford, and the researchers in The Institute for Advanced Social Research article seminar (Tampere University), and the anonymous reviewers, for their useful suggestions on earlier drafts. And we also thank all the interviewees for their generous time.
Appendix Transcription conventions
- (.)
micropause
- (2.0)
pause in seconds
- [ ]
beginning and end of overlapping talk
- Underline
stressed syllable or word
- :
lengthened sound
- (( ))
contextual or paralinguistic information within double brackets
- ( )
uncertain transcription within single brackets
- …
omitted material
- ?
question function of an utterance
- was-
self interruption or correction
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