Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Journal of Aging & Social Policy, cilt.0, sa.0, ss.1-21, 2024 (SSCI)
Older adults all around the world encountered numerous chal-lenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of these chal-lenges were pertinent to biological factors, like the risk ofinfection, while others resulted from social factors, like ageismand government regulations. Employing a capability approach,this study examined how age-based pandemic regulations thatwere imposed in Turkey affected the freedom and social envir-onment of older adults. We used Bachhi’s What is the ProblemRepresented to Be? (WPR) approach to analyze the memoran-dums issued by the central government between March 11,2020, and June 30, 2021. Our analysis revealed that the problemis represented in these memorandums as older people’sincreased vulnerability to health risks, which resulted in viola-tions of their mobility and health capabilities, as well as (mis)recognition of diversity within the older population. These find-ings provide vital insight into how age-based pandemic regula-tions define the problem based exclusively on chronologicalage, thereby creating circumstances that compromise olderpeople’s capabilities beyond simply maintaining health. Thus,we recommend that policymakers pay closer attention to boththe intended and unintended consequences of any proposedregulations, and account for individuals’ capabilities rather thanmerely their functionings.