Joint Workpackage Leader, Formal and Informal Networks,
University of Surrey, UK

Closure of neighbourhood shops reduces social interaction and increases potential for exclusion

"We have been looking at the impact of social networks - who people live with, that is their family relationships - on food procurement - shopping.

In the UK older people shop primarily at big supermarkets. On average, about twice a week going to supermarkets with very little use of other types of shops.

The drivers behind this choice in the UK are the closure of the small shops and the lack of availability of greengrocers, bakeries and the other small shops and other smaller supermarkets which were around 20 to 30 years ago.

This contrasts strongly with other European countries, where older people [tend to] shop at a much wider range of different types of outlets from markets …small supermarkets, butchers, greengrocers, pattiseries …
and only a much smaller proportion shop in the larger supermarkets.

This matters in two ways. One is that older people in the UK undertake less food shopping than in other countries, [making] only 2 ½ food shops per week compared to about 5 in most other European countries. So they have much less social contact with shopkeepers and with other people while they are shopping. So they [are worse off] in terms of socialisation, that is social relationships and social involvement with other local people such as shopkeepers.

The second factor is that big supermarkets tend to be outside towns and require transport to get there. Older people [in the UK] will have a larger shop when they go, because they go less frequently. And as people become older, frailer, less able to drive, or not have a car, then getting to the supermarket is really a major problem for many older people.

It can lead to social exclusion. For older people who are able to walk, say half a mile, and carry maybe a small bag of shopping - that's fine. But if the supermarket is a mile and a half away, they can't get there unless they rely on another family member to take them there or they have to pay for a taxi.

For the majority of older women …living on quite restricted incomes with only a state pension, the cost of getting a taxi can be prohibitive."

Biography

Sara Arber is Professor of Sociology, and Co-Director, Centre for Research on Ageing and Gender (CRAG) at University of Surrey, UK.
At Surrey, she was Head, School of Human Sciences (2001-04) and Head, Sociology Department (1996-2002) and President of the British Sociological Association (1999-2001).
Sara has written over 150 journal articles mainly on gender and ageing, and on gender and inequalities in health. Together with colleagues at Surrey, she has pioneered research on the sociology of sleep, focusing on changes in women's sleep with ageing and on negotiating sleep among couples.
Her books include
The Myth of Generational Conflict: Family and State in Ageing Societies (with Claudine Attias-Donfut, ESA Book Series, Routledge, 2000),
Gender and Ageing: Changing Roles and Relationships (with Kate Davidson and Jay Ginn, Open University Press, 2003); and
Connecting Gender and Ageing (with Jay Ginn, Open University Press, 1995).