The measures taken immediately after the
declaration of Covid-19 as a Pandemic, especially the elderly, those with
chronic diseases, women, children and the disabled were most affected. The
primary aim of this article is to reveal the difficulties and uncertainties
experienced by retirees over the age of 65, and the tactics and strategies of
coping with them in daily life, with a relational and reflexive sociological
perspective during the 2020-2021 Pandemic process. In accordance with the mixed
design principles in the research, both in-depth interviews (qualitative
research) and questionnaires (quantitative research) were conducted with
participants over the age of 65 who are members of the Ankara Branch of the
Turkey Retirees Association. In accordance with the grounded theory methodology
applied in the qualitative part of the research, after the social, economic and
psychological problems of the elderly were revealed in detail with open and
axial coding, the core concept of solidarity was reached. Finally, the life
story of the retirees was written using the tree metaphor. Findings supported
by quantitative data are discussed with the relational sociological literature
on the basis of uncertainty and differences, and how the elderly people hold on
to life with the strategies and tactics they apply is revealed.
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