Older Men's Lives - A Qualitative Study

This study explores the experiences of older single men living alone and in poverty in a post-Celtic Tiger society. It traces the lives and living environment of twelve older men many of whom were born around the foundation of the State. It examines the life course events which influenced these older men’s present living circumstances in an attempt to answer the question did these older men benefit from a good quality of life as envisaged by the founders of The Republic of Ireland, and if not why not. Through semi-structured qualitative ‘conversational’ style interviews (Rubin and Rubin, 1995), the older men recall aspects of their lives and events which they found to be important. The study illustrates the difficult and harsh times these men, their exiled siblings and parents lived through. It is perhaps timely to have the benefit of the insights of these older men who lived through some of the world’s harshest economic periods, just as we face into a decade of enormous fiscal and social challenges due to the current domestic financial crisis and global recession. This generation however has the advantages of modern technology to support them in their quest for self-fulfilment and the benefit of a sound education to assist them in furthering their life goals. The modern world is globalised and multi-cultural unlike the world that the older men of this study were reared in.