ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how ageing populations in rural communities and rural experiences of ageing have been studied in rural geography, rural sociology and related fields, and how conceptual and methodological approaches have evolved. It examines how analyses of urbanisation and counterurbanisation in the mid twentieth century onwards raised questions about the age structure of rural communities and how these were viewed through a political-economy lens; particularly in respect to retirement in-migration and gentrification. A critical reappraisal of retirement migration resonates with a growing body of work which takes a more qualitative, experiential approach to relationships between ageing, community and attachment to place. The narrative has been dominated by studies from Europe and North America, reflecting demographic trends the intellectual trajectories of rural studies in these settings. Demographic ageing due to out-migration can be associated with problems of social isolation and loss of productivity, while retirement in-migration may lead to competition for property and social conflicts.
