Paper short abstract:

During the Covid-19 pandemic in Slovakia, seniors were constructed as the most vulnerable social group. The overly unified and simplified image positioned them in between the contradictory tendencies: patronizing control on one hand and indifference to their needs and perspectives on the other.

Paper long abstract:

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the position of seniors as one of the most vulnerable social groups has remained in the foreground in media and public discourse in Slovakia. Their vulnerability was constructed in the context of the illness itself, but also regarding the impact of the pandemic on their mental health (Tyrrell et al., 2020). Their public image has been overly simplified, related to the necessity of “taking care” of them. The pandemic living conditions, connected to the perception of threat and the internal and external pressure for social isolation significantly changed the patterns of their everyday lives, but often incongruently with the unified public image.

The research is built on data obtained from online questionnaire surveys (March 2020, April 2021 with around 3000 questionnaires) and continuous qualitative research (ethnographic interviews + diaries). We reflect on how ideas of age and generational differences have been utilized to position different social groups in opposition (Cohn-Schwartz & Ayalon 2020). Under specific circumstances, the youth was constructed as careless and a threat, childhood and older age as the preconditions to be cared for and protected, and the intergenerational care as a one-directional burdensome activity. Simultaneously, the crisis of responsibility occurred: the state abdicated from the duties of the care for the dependable society members, but excessively interfered with and patronized the “vulnerable”. These contradictory tendencies left the seniors in a precarious position: being left on their own and dependable on informal ties, and thus not being allowed to make autonomous decisions.