The article discusses the issue of social exclusion of elderly people in rural areas during the COVID-19 pandemic. The author relies on the concept that defines social exclusion as a mechanism for separating a certain group of people from an integral community. Using the example of several respondents, the article examines the effects that social exclusion of elderly people creates in rural areas, as well as possible ways of their adaptation that can minimise it.

The empirical basis of the work is collected by the author 20 semi-structured interviews with elderly people living in rural areas in the Republic of Karelia and 20 diaries of their observations. When analysing interviews and diaries, a thematic method was used. The main result of the study is the identification of various fears and characteristics of the perception of social exclusion as a condition associated with changes in the habitual everyday life, as well as the lifestyle of respondents due to isolation.

The main conclusion highlights the various fears presented in the perceptions of social exclusion by elderly people associated with changes in the usual everyday life due to isolation.

The study also identifies the most effective ways for adaptation of elderly people to minimise their social exclusion: expanding communication with neighbours, translating communication into digital format. The data obtained by the author also allow us to draw a conclusion about changes in the sociological consideration of ageing. It becomes not a state of inclusiveness and activity, integration of elderly people into society, as modern concepts and approaches denote it (for example, the concept of active longevity), but a state that is primarily determined by physical weakness. The need for isolation, as well as limitation of activity, is becoming a forced measure that negatively affects older people and the characteristics of their perception of their age and the situation of a pandemic. This work contributes to the latest research into the understanding of ageing in the context of forced social exclusion in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19, elderly people, rural areas, social exclusion, ways of adaptation, self-isolation period COVID-19

1. Bocharov V. V. Antropologiya vozrasta: uchebnoe posobie [Anthropology of age: a textbook]. St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg University Press, 2001: 194 (in Russ.).

2. Galkin K. A. Ontological assembly of aging media. Zhurnal sociologii i social'noj antropologii, 2020: 23: 2: 67–86 (in Russ.). DOI: 10.31119/jssa.2020.23.2.3

3. Galkin K. A. Modes of care and self-care in case of separate residence of elderly people in peripheral settlements. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya, 2020: 9: 70–78 (in Russ.). DOI: 10.31857/S013216250009290-2

4. Grigorieva I. A., Chernyshova S. P. New approaches to the prevention of social exclusion of the elderly. Zhurnal sociologii i social'noj antropologii, 2009: 12: 2: 186–196 (in Russ.).

5. Grigorieva I., Bogdanova E. The concept of active aging in Europe and Russia in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Laboratorium: zhurnal social'nyh issledovanij, 2020: 2: 187–211 (in Russ.). DOI 10.25285/2078-1938-2020-12-2-187-211

6. Dmitrieva A. V. Social inclusion/exclusion as a principle of structuring modern society. Sociologicheskij zhurnal, 2012: 2: 98–114 (in Russ.)

7. Zobov R. A., Kelasyev V. N. Social'noe zdorov'e i socializaciya cheloveka [Social health and human socialization]. St. Petersburg, Himizdat, 2005: 167 (in Russ.).

8. Kienko T. S. Secondary consequences of restrictions and isolation in the context of COVID-19 risks for older people: a syndemic approach. Sohranenie zdorov'ya naseleniya kak global'naya problema sovremennosti: materialy mezhdunarodnoj mezhdisciplinarnoj nauchno-prakticheskoj konferencii [Preservation of public health as a global problem of our time: materials of the international interdisciplinary scientific and practical conference]. Omsk, Rus', 2021: 116–119 (in Russ.).

9. Maiwald K. O. Sequential analysis in German sociology: competence and practice. Sociologiya: metodologiya, metody, matematicheskoe modelirovanie, 2011: 32: 143–180 (in Russ.).

10. Maksimova S. G., Nevaeva D. A. Social exclusion of the elderly in the modern region. Vestnik Altajskogo gosudarstvennogo agrarnogo universiteta, 2015: 8 (130): 173–177 (in Russ.).

11. Parfenova O. A. Involvement of the elderly in volunteer and civic activity as a tool to overcome social exclusion. Public opinion monitoring: economic and social changes, 2020: 4: 119–135 (in Russ.). DOI: https://doi.org/10.14515/monitoring.2020.4.1580

12. Pervova I. L., Kelasyev V. N. The elderly and the state: the specifics of relations in modern Russia on the example of elderly residents of St. Petersburg. Uspekhi gerontologii, 2017: 30: 6: 794–801 (in Russ.).

13. Saponov D. I., Smolkin A. A. Social exclusion of the elderly: towards the development of a measurement model. Monitoring obshchestvennogo mneniya: ekonomicheskie i social'nye peremeny, 2012: 5: 83–94 (in Russ.).

14. Yadova M. A. Environmental impact on healthy and active aging: a systematic review / Anir M., Keeling S., Wilkinson T., Cushman G., Gidlow B., Hopkins H.: abstract. Uspeshnoe starenie: sociologicheskie i sociogerontologicheskie koncepcii [Successful aging: sociological and sociogerontological concepts]. Ed. by Y. V. Evseeva, M. A. Yadova. Moscow, INION RAN, 2020: 103–113 (in Russ.).

15. Yarmak O. V., Strashko E. V., Shkaiderova T. V. Reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Internet audience of Moscow, St. Petersburg and Sevastopol (based on media analytical research). Vestnik instituta sotziologii, 2020: 11: 3: 121–142 (in Russ.). DOI: https://doi.org/10.19181/vis.2020.11.3.666

16. Abrahamson P. Social Exclusion and Poverty. Social Sciences and Modernity, 2001: 2: 158–166.

17. Alhojailan M. I. Thematic Analysis: A Critical Review of Its Process and Evaluation. West East Journal of Social Sciences, 2012: 1 (1): 39–47.

18. Baars J. [et al.] (eds.). Aging, Globalization and Inequality: The New Critical Gerontology. London, Routledge, 2016: 14.

19. Bauman Z. Wasted Lives: Modernity and Its Outcasts. The Sociological Journal, 2004: 1–2: 199–205.

20. Huberman M., Miles. M. B. The Qualitative Researcher’s Companion. New York, Sage publ., 1994: 424.

21. Jehoel-Gijsbers G., Vrooman C. Social Exclusion of the Elderly: A Comparative Study of EU Member States. ENEPRI Research Report, 2008: 57: 90.

22. Kvale S. Interviews: An Introduction to Qualitative Research Interviewing Thousand Oaks. New York, Sage publ., 1996: 326.

23. Mendenhall E. The COVID-19 Syndemic is not Global: Context Matters. The Lancet, 2020: 396: 10264: 1731. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)32218-2

24. Rowe J. W., Kahn R. L. Successful Ageing. The Gerontologist. 1997: 37 (4): 433–440.

25. Sacker A. [et al.] Health and Social Exclusion in Older Age: Evidence from Understanding Society, the UK Household Longitudinal Study. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 2017: 71 (7): 681–690. DOI:10.1136/jech-2016-208037

26. Van Dyk S. The Appraisal of Difference: Critical Gerontology and the Active-Ageing-Paradigm. Journal of Aging Studies, 2014: 31: 93–103.

27. Walker A. A Strategy for Active Ageing. International Social Security Review, 2002: 55 (1): 121–139.