Helen Keller International

Who Are You Calling Old? Negotiating Old Age Identity in the Elderly Consumption Ensemble MICHELLE BARNHART ˜ LISA PENALOZA As the elderly population increases, more family, friends, and paid service providers assist them with consumption activities in a group that the authors conceptualize as the elderly consumption ensemble (ECE). Interviews with members of eight ECEs demonstrate consumption in advanced age as a group phenomenon rather than an individual one, provide an account of how the practices