Doing as a category organizing the daily life of female members of the University of the Third Age and Singles’ Club in Sokółka

24 cm

The paper describes changes in everyday life of female members of the University of the Third Age (U3A) and Singles’ Club in Sokółka. In the past they used to have a high position in the town thanks to their professions. After retiring they were striving to maintain it, yet their prestige was derived from other activities. As pensioners they renounced the category of work and differentiated their daily activities into “doing” and “sitting”. “Doing” refers to pleasant and voluntary activities which can occur in both public (U3A, traveling) and private sphere (involvement in the lives of adult children, making new friends). “Sitting” encompasses activities commonly associated with old age. They tried to fill the day with similar amount of work as before retirement, but they minimized the number of obligatory or boring tasks. Finally, in order to maintain their elitist status, they preferred company of people with similar cultural capital and tried to distinguish their circle of friends from the rest of the town’s pensioners