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Intentional Sub-communities and Identity Continuity Among Baby Boomers: Grateful Dead Fans

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Abstract

In this chapter, we discuss intentional communities and their role in maintaining identity continuity and facilitating successful aging. An intentional community is a planned residential community designed from the start to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork. According to contemporary theory, successful aging is achieved when older adults maintain as much continuity as possible. To compensate for age-related changes, they modify their behaviors and environments, optimize their resources, and focus on selected priorities, such as living in a community with like-minded people. Some baby boomers are discussing one type of intentional community as a potential retirement option—a community organized around lifestyle preferences such as musical taste. We examine the potential for the development of such lifestyle communities organized around shared musical taste by focusing on the aging fans of one band, the Grateful Dead. Although we argue that having a Deadhead identity alone is not likely to be an adequate basis for an intentional residential community to support successful aging, we do see potential for the formation of such communities among smaller, more homogeneous, and tightly-knit sub-groups of Deadheads. It is thus possible that the potential exists in other fan bases as well.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Gerontology Program University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Box 26170, Greensboro, NC, 27402-6170, USA

    Rebecca G. Adams

  2. Community and Therepeutic Recreation, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 26170, Greensboro, NC, 27402-6170, USA

    Justin T. Harmon

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  1. Rebecca G. Adams
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  2. Justin T. Harmon
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Correspondence to Rebecca G. Adams .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Policy and Practice, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

    Ram A. Cnaan

  2. Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, USA

    Carl Milofsky

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Adams, R.G., Harmon, J.T. (2018). Intentional Sub-communities and Identity Continuity Among Baby Boomers: Grateful Dead Fans. In: Cnaan, R., Milofsky, C. (eds) Handbook of Community Movements and Local Organizations in the 21st Century . Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77416-9_21

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77416-9_21

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