The aging population has created implications for many industries, especially in terms of establishing legitimacy among stakeholders. One industry that has been affected by the shifting demographics is homebuilding. Older adults must consider future housing needs that allow for successful aging. However, the current inventory of houses and neighborhoods are not necessarily built to suit this population. Pulte Homes, a national homebuilding company, has a line of active adult communities under the name Del Webb. To understand how Pulte communicates legitimacy for this housing product, I completed a qualitative content analysis of the Del Webb section of the organizational website that integrates the tenets of the Communication Ecology Model of Successful Aging (CEMSA) with five discursive strategies for establishing legitimacy. In doing so, I found that Pulte constructed an idealized portrayal of age/aging by emphasizing the need to (1) plan for future needs, (2) express optimism about aging, (3) resist age-based stereotypes, and (4) minimize the role of communication technology. Based on these findings, Pulte’s discourse ultimately positions Del Webb as a utopia for older adults/space that facilitates ‘successful’ aging and raises questions about the transparency of this organizational discourse.

中文翻译：

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通过成功衰老的刻画交流合法性：研究普尔特房屋的在线交流策略

人口老龄化对许多行业产生了影响，特别是在利益相关者之间建立合法性方面。受人口变化影响的一个行业是房屋建筑。老年人必须考虑能够成功衰老的未来住房需求。但是，当前房屋和街区的清单不一定能满足该人群的需求。一家全国性的房屋建筑公司Pulte Homes拥有一系列活跃的成人社区，名称为Del Webb。为了了解Pulte如何传达这种住房产品的合法性，我完成了组织网站Del Webb部分的定性内容分析，该部分将“成功衰老的传播生态模型”（CEMSA）的宗旨与建立合法性的五种话语策略相结合。在这样做，我发现普尔特强调（1）计划未来需求，（2）对衰老表示乐观，（3）抵制基于年龄的刻板印象，以及（4）最大限度地减少了以下因素，从而构建了理想的年龄/年龄刻画：通信技术。基于这些发现，普尔特的话语最终将德尔·韦伯定位为老年人/空间的乌托邦，这有利于“成功”衰老，并引起人们对该组织话语透明度的质疑。