Clary Krekula

Since 2021, I have been professor of Social Work at Linnaeus University. My research centres primarily on ageing from intersectional and organisational perspectives. It also includes critical age studies/age sociology, care work relationship studies, elderly care and temporality.                    

With a background as a dentist, I returned to Academia towards the end of the 1990s, studying sociology and social psychology at Uppsala University and receiving a Master's degree in 2001 and a doctorate in Sociology in 2006 for a thesis titled "Woman in an age coded world: On older women's embodied identity negotiations," a social gerontological monograph  with a gender perspective. In 2009, I was appointed docent and promoted to professor of Sociology in 2017.

Teaching

I have taught courses at all levels from undergraduate to doctoral level, and the latter both nationally and internationally. My teaching has primarily been in the areas of age, ageing and demography, as well as gender theories, inequality, critical approaches and sociological and social psychological theory formations. My methodology teaching has focused on various qualitative methods and approaches.

Research

My research interests include critical perspectives on age, ageing from intersectional and organisational perspectives, issues of extended working life, and time and temporality. I am a member of several national and international collaborations in these areas.  

I have had the privilege of working with dedicated researchers at leading universities around the world.  Some examples of such parnerships are the research network ”AgeS: Svenska forskningsnätverket om ålder” [AgeS: Swedish research network on age] and the international neworks  ”COST IS 1409 Gender and health impacts of policies extending working life in western countries” and ”COST IS 1402 Ageism: A multinational, interdisciplinary perspective”.

Presently, I am vice chair of the international network COST IS 21107 Work inequalities in later life redefined by digitalization” (DIGI-net) (Ojämlikhet i arbete senare i livet omdefinierat av digitalisering). At Linnaeus University I head  the research group Socialt arbete, funktionsnedsättning och åldrande (Social Work, functional challenge and ageing) For further information on SODA, see below.

Here are some examples of previous research projects:

• Dynamics of Inequality across the Life Course (Norface 2018-2020)
• Företagande sent i livet: En explorativ studie om företagandets varierande motiv och villkor samt dess konsekvenser för åldrandet [Entrepreneurship late in life: An exploratory study of various reasons for and conditions of entrepreneurship and its impacts on ageing] (Forte 2017–2019).
• The joy and beauty of dancing: An exploratory study of the social and corporeal aspects of dancing among older people (Riksbankens Jubileumsfond 2016-2018).
• Ålder räknas: En explorativ studie av processer kring inklusion och exklusion i en arbetsorganisation [Age counts: An exploratory study of processes of inclusion and exclusion in a work organisation] (FAS 2012 – 2018).
• Den genuskodade räddningstjänsten. En studie av jämställdhetens förutsättningar [Gender coded rescue services: A study of conditions of equality] (MSB 2010–2014).
• Att vara äldre och bo för sig själv: möjligheter och begränsningar i olika boendeformer [Being old and living alone: Opportunities and limitations of different forms of housing] (Formas 2007–2009).

Several of my research projects are conducted, nationally and internationally, in conjunction with public sector actors and civil society, such as public agencies, pensionsers' associations, trade unions and business organisations.  

Presently, I have three ongoing reserach projects:

• Ensam men med kontakt? Digitala (o)jämlikheter inom omsorg och generationsöverskridande relationer bland äldre som lever ensamma [Alone but with contacts? Digital (in)equalities in social care and intergenerational relationships among elderly living alone] (More Years Better Lives 2021 – 2025).
• Vem ges rätt till specialiserad vård under Covid-19? Om biologisk ålder som bedömningsreferens för omsorgs- eller vårdinsatser för personer i olika åldrar [Who receives specialised care during COVID-10? On biological age as assessment reference for care or medical treatment among individuals of different ages] (Swedish Research Council 2023–2026).
• Den organiserade osäkerheten inom äldreomsorgen. Om kvalitet, förutsättningar för motstånd och personalens vilja att stanna kvar [Organised uncertainty in elderly care: On quality, conditions for resistance, and staff willingness to stay on] (Forte 2023 – 2026).

For more information of these projects, see below.

Commissions

Membership of Faculty Board FSV 2022–2025.