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Disrupting discourses of age? Exploring the identity work of older digital technology sector professionals
Christine Shukis-Brown,
Katrina Pritchard 
Management Learning
Swansea University Author:
Katrina Pritchard
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© The Author(s) 2026. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License.
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DOI (Published version): 10.1177/13505076251413655
Abstract
The digital technology sector is often subject to reports of ageism. Given this context, our study examines how age is discursively negotiated within the identity work of older digital technology knowledge workers. Our discursive analysis demonstrates how our participants resist, reposition and reim...
| Published in: | Management Learning |
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| ISSN: | 1350-5076 1461-7307 |
| Published: |
SAGE Publications
2026
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| Online Access: |
Check full text
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| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa71181 |
| Abstract: |
The digital technology sector is often subject to reports of ageism. Given this context, our study examines how age is discursively negotiated within the identity work of older digital technology knowledge workers. Our discursive analysis demonstrates how our participants resist, reposition and reimagine their ageing identities in ways that disrupt common stereotypes about technology and age. We propose this is achieved through identity work that downplays established ideas of the digitally limited ageing subject by amplifying more complex and occupationally desired identities. This research adds nuance to understandings of age categorisations and the ageing knowledge worker, explicates socio-technological insights and explains how an ageing identity can be constructed within the digital technology sector. |
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| Keywords: |
Ageism, digital technology, discourse, identity threat, identity work |
| College: |
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Funders: |
Swansea University |