Baby Boomers in an Active Adult Retirement Community: Comity Interrupted

Over the last five decades, the number of U.S. households in age-restricted housing, including active adult retirement communities (AARCs), has increased steadily to nearly 2.7 million households headed by individuals 55 and older. Recent projections anticipate 54,000 new 55+ housing starts in 2011 and 79,000 in 2012 (MetLife, 2011). This growth is due, in part, to the Baby Boomers (hereafter Boomers) who in 2001 began turning 55, the minimum age for entry into most AARCs by the 1998 Fair Housing Act Amendments (42 U.S.C. §§ 3,601–3,619). Because of their numbers, Boomers will likely influence AARCs whether Boomers embrace age-restricted senior housing or not. Based upon ethnographic research, this article examines the underpinnings of age-based social dynamics, as older, established residents in an AARC encounter newly arrived Boomers. In a community where an active lifestyle is presumably shared, this paper explores the social construction of group identity and ageism. Comity, the harmony and camaraderie that develops among people who share experiences and activities, emerged as a strong theme within the social life of this particular community. We begin with a poignant incident that disrupts this community’s sense of comity and, more importantly, speaks to larger sociocultural understandings of aging and the power and prevalence of ageism, even in an environment where “everyone is old” (Kastenbaum, 1993). The incident reflects assertion by Gilleard and Higgs (2000, p. 8) that “age is more a site of contradiction than of community.” The conflicts between these “competing cultures of aging” indicate that Third Agers, those in an “era of personal fulfillment” according to Laslett (1989, p. 4), share a common disdain and dread of the Fourth Age, a period of “final dependence, decrepitude, and death” (4; for more information about the First and Second Ages, cf. Laslett, 1989). In 2009, we began fieldwork in Woodhaven (all place and people names are pseudonyms), an AARC of several thousand people located on the east coast. Laid out in suburban-style cul-de-sacs, Woodhaven includes some rentals but is primarily privately owned housing including condos, town houses, and single-family homes. The ongoing need to attract new and most likely younger buyers prompted the community leadership to authorize a major renovation of the decades-old clubhouse that housed outdated fitness equipment and an inadequate pool. A number of established residents told us they looked forward to what some were calling “new blood,” anxious to hand over some leadership roles, and welcome the widely touted Boomer generation into the vibrant social life they had developed in the years they had lived there. In those first weeks of fieldwork, stories began to emerge indicating that the Boomers did not necessarily feel the same way. A key story, told primarily from the perspective of Woodhaven’s established residents, continued to engender feelings of resentment 2 years after the event: “The only problem we’ve had,” said Rita Hurley (age 79; Boomers during the time of our fieldwork would have ranged from 45 to 63 years of age), “is with the Boomers; they’ve been kind of rude.” Rita was in the middle of a Drama Club rehearsal when she discovered the newly formed Boomer Club was meeting nearby. She thought it an ideal opportunity to welcome them. “Of course, good old charming me, I go in and said, ‘Would you mind if I just speak a few minutes to invite people to come and join [in the activities here]?’” She began her short, enthusiastic speech by telling the 10 people in attendance, “We’re so thrilled to have you. We’ve been waiting for you to come. We need you and your fresh ideas.” She was met with a silent and cold reception. “There was not a smile in the crowd.” She continued: … this woman finally raised her hand and she said, “I just wanted to say, we’re not really interested in joining the old people. You can just save your breath. We didn’t come here to hang out with people old enough to be our parents.” I felt like I had been slapped. That was so rude and nobody spoke up to say anything different. Rita left, stunned. After returning to rehearsal, she related the story to the Drama Club members who were shocked. “They were all just, ‘I can’t believe that! I can’t believe they said such a thing!’ I said, ‘I couldn’t either.’” Despite the relatively small group of people involved, the story of the Boomer reaction spread “like wildfire,” as Rita described it. Early in our research, the effects of the Boomers’ comments remained palpable. Many older informants referred to this exchange and their consequent low regard for the Boomers as a group. Rita reflected on this incident in her interview: It was terrible. We got off on such a bad footing with these people. Nobody wanted to have anything to do with the Boomers. Boomers didn’t want to have anything to do with us. Complicated power and identity dynamics are evident in this exchange. The incident crystallizes ageist sentiments held by both Boomers as well as the established community members. Some older residents may have been guilty of overvalorizing the youth of the Boomers, desiring both to be seen as still active and “not old” or sick and hoping to be accepted by the younger residents. Not every Boomer held these ageist sentiments or belonged to the Boomer Club, and in some cases, significant friendships and bonds arose across these age groups. Nevertheless, the story confirmed deep-seated sociocultural attitudes about age and illness. It made a lasting impression and had become more than a story; it had become legend (Mullen, 1972). Legends, writes folklorist Tangherlini (1990, p. 380), gain power “by tapping already established beliefs and values” and “by constructing a symbolic reality which encompasses these values and beliefs.”