Comparative Gerontolinguistics: Characterizing Discourses in Caring Institutions in South Africa and the United Kingdom

Abstract

This article compares and contrasts the interactions between caregivers and care–recipients in two nursing homes in the United Kingdom and South Africa. It is argued that the discourse of caring in the two settings is similar in terms of how residents and nurses use interactional strategies to negotiate role relationships. It is also argued that it is the context of the “total” institution that gives rise to these strategies. Differences in the two settings are most noticeable in compliance–gaining situations. The “power struggle” between nurses and residents is much more overt in the South African data where it is reflected and constructed in racist discourse.

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