As the global older population continues to expand, new issues and concerns arise for consideration by academics, policy makers and practitioners worldwide. Ageing in a Global Context is a series of books, published by Policy Press in association with the British Society of Gerontology, which aims to influence and transform debates in what has become a fast-moving field in research and policy. The series seeks to achieve this in three main ways. First, the series publishes books that rethink key questions shaping debates in the study of ageing. This has become especially important given the restructuring of welfare states, alongside the complex nature of population change, with both of these elements opening up the need to explore themes that go beyond traditional perspectives in social gerontology. Second, the series represents a response to the impact of globalisation and related processes that are contributing to the erosion of the national boundaries that originally framed the study of ageing. From this has come the emergence of issues explored in various contributions to the series, for example: the impact of cultural diversity; changing patterns of working life; new forms of inequality; the role of ethnicity in later life; and related concerns. Third, a key concern of the series is to explore interdisciplinary connections in gerontology. Contributions to the series provide a critical assessment of the disciplinary boundaries and territories influencing later life, creating, in the process, new perspectives and approaches relevant to the 21st century.

Given the context described, Retirement Migration and Precarity in Later Life corresponds closely to the aims of the Ageing in a Global Context series. The issue of retirement migration has been a significant theme in research on ageing since at least the 1990s. Much of this work has tended towards presenting older migrants as an economically secure group seeking a leisure-based lifestyle as they transition from work to retirement. However, the authors provide a convincing challenge to this view, demonstrating the extent to which international migration among older people may be linked to the need to escape poverty and insecurity in their home country. Drawing upon fascinating interview material with retirees from the UK, the US and Switzerland, the book explores migration in the context of the ways in which precarity linked with ageism shapes the lives of older people.

As the proportion of elders worldwide continues to expand, new issues and concerns for scholars, policy makers and health and social care professionals emerge. Ageing in a Global Context is a series of books, published by Policy Press in association with the British Society of Gerontology, which seeks both to influence and transform debates in what has become a fast-moving field in research and policy. The series pursues this in three main ways. First, the series is publishing books that rethink key questions shaping debates in the study of ageing. This has become especially important and timely given the restructuring of welfare states that is occurring alongside the complex nature of population change. Together, these developments point to the need to explore themes that go beyond traditional perspectives in social gerontology. Second, the series represents a response to the impact of globalisation and related processes, and the resultant erosion of the national boundaries that originally framed the study of ageing. From this has come the emergence of issues explored in various contributions to the series, for example: the impact of transnational migration, cultural diversity, new types of inequality, and contrasting themes relating to ageing in rural and urban areas. Third, a key concern of the series is to explore interdisciplinary connections in gerontology. Contributions provide a critical assessment of the disciplinary boundaries and territories influencing the study of ageing, creating in the process new perspectives and approaches relevant to the 21st century.

In the context of these broad aims, we welcome the contributions of this book. The editors, Paul Willis, Ilkka Pietilä and Marjaana Seppänen, have put together a volume that fills a critical gap in our understanding of diverse older men’s social connections, including in relation to transitions in later life. They have brought together leading scholars in ageing and masculinities, examining the ways that masculine identities and practices influence a wide range of relationships. In so doing, the chapters explore older men in the broader context of gender across nations, in diverse social and cultural settings.

As the global older population continues to expand, new issues and concerns arise for consideration by academics, policy makers, and health and social care professionals worldwide. Ageing in a Global Context is a series of books, published by Policy Press in association with the British Society of Gerontology, which aims to influence and transform debates in what has become a fast-moving field in research and policy. The series seeks to achieve this in three main ways: first, through publishing books which rethink the key questions shaping debates in the study of ageing. This has become especially important given the re-structuring of welfare states, alongside the complex nature of population change, both of these elements opening up the need to explore themes which go beyond traditional perspectives in social gerontology. Second, the series represents a response to the impact of globalisation and related processes, these contributing to the erosion of the national boundaries which originally framed the study of ageing. From this has come the emergence of issues explored in various contributions to the series, for example: the impact of cultural diversity, changing patterns of working life, new forms of inequality, the role of ethnicity in later life and related concerns. Third, a key concern of the series is to explore interdisciplinary connections in gerontology. Contributions to the series provide a critical assessment of the disciplinary boundaries and territories influencing later life, creating, in the process, new perspectives and approaches relevant to the twenty-first century.

Given these broad aims, this very comprehensive study of the care of older people in India is to be especially welcomed. The editors are surely right in their assessment of the importance of a better understanding of the Indian context, given both the size of the country's population and also its immense cultural, demographic and social diversity. Indeed, the key conclusion to be drawn from the various chapters is precisely the variety of living arrangements of older adults, set within the continued importance of the traditional family structure within India. The book is of particular importance in the way it draws together a wealth of material, based upon both quantitative and qualitative data, looking at trends across India and individual states.

Demographic ageing and the increasing numbers and growing diversity of older people across world regions are raising new issues and concerns for consideration by academics, policy makers and health and social care professionals around the world. Ageing in a Global Context is a book series, published by Policy Press in association with the British Society of Gerontology, that aims to influence and transform debates in what is a rapidly changing field in research and policy. The series seeks to achieve its aims in three main ways. First, the series publishes books which set out to re-think some of the fundamental questions which shape debates in the study of ageing. This has become particularly important within the context of the restructuring of welfare states, especially in the Global North, and the growing complexity of population change. Each of these elements opens up the need to explore themes which reach beyond traditional perspectives in social gerontology. Second, the series represents a response to the impact of globalisation and related processes, which are contributing to the erosion of the national boundaries that originally framed the study of ageing. This is reflected in the increasing scope and breadth of issues that are explored in contributions to the series, for example: the impact of transnational migration, growing ethnic and cultural diversity, new types of inequality, changing personal and family ties and themes relating to ageing in different environmental contexts. Third, a major concern of the Ageing in a Global Context series is to explore interdisciplinary connections in gerontology. Contributions to the series provide a critical assessment of the disciplinary boundaries and territories that influence the study of ageing, creating in the process new perspectives and approaches relevant to the 21st century.

Against this background, we are delighted that Sheila Peace has written an exciting book that responds so well to the overarching aims of our series. As might be expected of a scholar whose work has helped to shape the interdisciplinary field of environmental gerontology since the 1970s, The Environments of Ageing breaks new ground in conceptualising the spatiality of later life. Its focus is on the contrasting environments, ranging from the specific characteristics of spaces within the home setting to key features of global cities, which influence personal experiences and have a powerful bearing on wellbeing in older age.

As the global older population continues to expand, new issues and concerns arise for consideration by academics, policy makers and health and social care professionals worldwide. Ageing in a Global Context is a series of books, published by Policy Press in association with the British Society of Gerontology, which aims to influence and transform debates in what has become a fast-moving field in research and policy. The series seeks to achieve this in three main ways: first, through publishing books which re-think the key questions shaping debates in the study of ageing. This has become especially important given the re-structuring of welfare states, alongside the complex nature of population change, both of these elements opening up the need to explore themes which go beyond traditional perspectives in social gerontology. Second, the series represents a response to the impact of globalization and related processes, these contributing to the erosion of the national boundaries which originally framed the study of ageing. From this has come the emergence of issues explored in various contributions to the series, for example: the impact of cultural diversity, changing patterns of working life, new forms of inequality, the role of ethnicity in later life, and related concerns. Third, a key concern of the series is to explore interdisciplinary connections in gerontology. Contributions to the series provide a critical assessment of the disciplinary boundaries and territories influencing later life, creating, in the process, new perspectives and approaches relevant to the 21st century.

Of particular importance has been the crisis in health and social care, driven by changing patterns of ownership and delivery of services, cuts in public spending, and the impact of COVID-19. These changes have themselves interacted with global changes in systems of social protection, these having the effect of introducing new forms of insecurity and precarity. Given this context, Bethany Simmonds provides a significant contribution to the Policy Press/BSG series, illuminating both the impact of neo-liberal policies on older people, but also staff working within the care system. Her study outlines the wider economic and social context in which care is situated, along with valuable case studies of the experiences of older people themselves. The book should prove essential reading for policy makers, practitioners, and academics, working to improve the quality of care and support provided to older people.

Introduction

Developing bodies of work in interdisciplinary dementia research are engaging with concepts of place and spatiality as they relate to the everyday experience of living with dementia (Clarke and Bailey, 2016; Odzakovic et al, 2018). Rather than focus on the ‘dis-abilities’ of a person and their effect on navigation or wayfinding, these works have looked first to understand environmental barriers and to improve the enabling characteristics of environments – through features such as signage, pathways and distinctiveness (Mitchell and Burton, 2010). Building upon understanding the role of material geographies is work that engages with more progressive understandings of neighbourhoods as spaces of lived experience, belonging and relational ties (Ward et al, 2018; Clark et al, 2020). This evolving understanding of the vital importance of place and space for people with dementia is in contrast to a spatial literature where the relationship of people with dementia to space was pathologised – for example the reframing of the everyday practice of walking as a form of deviant wandering (Brittain et al, 2017). Rather than support mobility, a pathologising spatial lens problematises outdoor mobility for people with dementia as a health and safety risk and a social burden (MacAndrew et al, 2018). For those receiving a dementia diagnosis, notions like ‘prescribed dis-engagement’ (Swaffer, 2015) can foreclose possibilities for continuing involvement in the everyday spaces of community life. This prevalent narrative within the medicalised model sees dementia as a disease without a cure, with many medical practitioners accompanying diagnoses with instructions to abandon activities that are crucial to well-being and personhood and focus instead on end-of-life affairs and a potential trajectory of suffering.

People living with dementia have the right to freedom of movement and liberty and to be supported to maintain an ‘activity space’ (Hägerstrand, 1970) of regular social activities and movement within their neighbourhoods (Cahill 2018; Steele et al, 2019). These rights are being demanded through dementia activism and a closer alignment with the disability rights movement (Thomas and Milligan, 2018; Shakespeare et al, 2019). A new commitment to inclusion is also evident in some expressions of the international Dementia Friendly Communities (DFC) movement (Alzheimer's Disease International, 2017).

Global ageing and the increasing numbers of older people in all world regions raise new issues and concerns for consideration by academics, policy makers and health and social care professionals around the world. Ageing in a Global Context is a book series, published by Policy Press in association with the British Society of Gerontology, that aims to influence and transform debates in what is a fast-moving field in research and policy. The series seeks to achieve this in three main ways. First, the series publishes books which rethink key questions shaping debates in the study of ageing. This has become particularly important given the restructuring of welfare states, especially in the Global North, alongside the complex nature of population change. Each of these elements opens up the need to explore themes which reach beyond traditional perspectives in social gerontology. Second, the series represents a response to the impact of globalisation and related processes, which are contributing to the erosion of the national boundaries that originally framed the study of ageing. This is reflected in the increasing scope and breadth of issues that are explored in contributions to the series, for example: the impact of transnational migration, growing ethnic and cultural diversity, new types of inequality and themes relating to ageing in different environmental contexts. Third, a key concern of the series is to explore interdisciplinary connections in gerontology. Contributions provide a critical assessment of the disciplinary boundaries and territories influencing the study of ageing, creating in the process new perspectives and approaches relevant to the twenty-first century.

In Disability and Ageing: Towards a Critical Perspective, Ann Leahy seeks to challenge some of the taken-for-granted assumptions about the connections between the fields of disability studies and social gerontology. With a strong conceptual grounding in critical gerontology, the book considers the ways in which social policies and cultural practices differently shape the lives of people who are ageing with disability and people who develop disabilities in later life. Ann Leahy uses evidence drawn from a fascinating empirical project to question the siloed approaches that have tended to characterise ageing and disability in terms of theorising, activism and policy making. She suggests that as people age, they experience greater disablement in their bodies and in the contexts of their lives.

Global ageing and the increasing numbers of older people in all world regions raise new issues and concerns for consideration by academics, policy makers and health and social care professionals around the world. Ageing in a Global Context is a book series, published by Policy Press in association with the British Society of Gerontology, that aims to influence and transform debates in what is a fast-moving field in research and policy. The series seeks to achieve this in three main ways. First, the series publishes books which rethink key questions shaping debates in the study of ageing. This has become particularly important given the restructuring of welfare states, especially in the Global North, alongside the complex nature of population change. Each of these elements opens up the need to explore themes which reach beyond traditional perspectives in social gerontology. Second, the series represents a response to the impact of globalization and related processes, which are contributing to the erosion of the national boundaries that originally framed the study of ageing. This is reflected in the increasing scope and breadth of issues that are explored in contributions to the series, for example: the impact of transnational migration, growing ethnic and cultural diversity, new types of inequality, and themes relating to ageing in different environmental contexts. Third, a key concern of the series is to explore interdisciplinary connections in gerontology. Contributions provide a critical assessment of the disciplinary boundaries and territories influencing the study of ageing, creating in the process new perspectives and approaches relevant to the 21st century.

Against this background, we are grateful to the editors of this book, Amanda Grenier, Chris Phillipson and Richard A. Settersten Jr, whose book aligns so closely to the aims of the Ageing in a Global Context series. Exploring the emerging topic of precarity and ageing, the book offers a fundamentally new perspective on the ways in which later life is shaped within the context of a redefined welfare model and deepening inequalities. With a strong conceptual grounding in critical gerontology, the book's chapters, written by leading scholars from a range of countries, considers the multiple and intersecting pathways that lead to precarity in older age, the different spheres of life that are becoming more precarious under the influence of profound structural change, and the role of social policy in framing and responding to precarity.

Introduction

Earlier chapters have reviewed the way in which the concept of precarity has been used to identify new forms of insecurity affecting the lives of older people. An underlying cause of the changes described arose from the financial crisis of 2008 and the implementation of public policies built around economic austerity (see further Tooze, 2018). The purpose of this chapter is to examine the impact of these developments and to assess potential areas of challenge and resistance on the part of older people. For many countries, the issues surrounding the growth of more precarious lives – at all points of the life course – has been embedded in a process – pre-and post-2008 – of marginalizing the language and narrative of the welfare state, alongside associated ideas of social inclusion and social security. Blackburn (2006, p 5) makes the point that an ageing society ‘requires new welfare principles not their repudiation’. However, the reality has been the gradual erosion of welfare support as well as the social solidarity that gave it legitimacy (McKibbin, 2017). Both aspects underline the extent of the crisis facing societies undergoing demographic change: in the case of Europe, one set of welfare institutions is being abandoned, with their replacement coming in the form of a precarious set of arrangements characterized by reduced state involvement, privatization of care and pensions, and greater responsibilities placed upon women for unpaid work within the home and community (Cooper and Whyte, 2017; Taylor-Gooby et al, 2017; Toynbee and Walker, 2017).

This chapter examines the context for the rise of precarity in the lives of older people, as well as responses and alternative areas of practice. The chapter is divided into five sections. First, it presents a discussion of the link between precarity and changes in the welfare state and austerity policies imposed by governments in the Global North. Second, it considers the impact of the decline of areas of social support and the emergence of what Streeck (2016) has termed an ‘under-institutionalized’ society. Third, the changes outlined are linked to the influence of neoliberal policies with their emphasis on personal responsibility for managing transitions through the life course.

Introduction

This book has explored the extent to which the concepts of ‘precarity’ and ‘precariousness’ can provide new insights into the way in which inequalities and insecurities may be experienced across the life course. A dominant theme of the chapters has been the impact of various changes that have affected the lives of older people in the 21st century, these including the decline of the social or welfare state, the move to extend working life, the pressures faced by caregivers and the vulnerabilities of late old age. Of course, as many of the contributors suggest, not all older people are affected in the same way, with significant variations according to race, ethnicity, gender, social class and sexual orientation. But relatively few people are likely to escape the experience or feeling of insecurity at some point in later life, and for many these may become deeply rooted in everyday life.

As a general argument, then, and for different reasons, we think ideas associated with ‘precarity’ and ‘precariousness’ are valuable for students of ageing and policymakers to consider. First, they extend our understanding of the many sources and forms of insecurity that may affect the lives of older people. These have been illustrated in this book through, for example, discussions relating to migration (Kobayashi and Kahn), care work (Fine), cuts to health and social care (Polivka and Bao; Portacolone), and the influence of life course transitions in creating precarity and responses to it (Settersten). Second, later life may bring distinctive features in respect of changes to mental and physical health. As noted in many of the chapters, however, these are often best understood in terms of lives that, from childhood onwards, may face numerous threats to independence and security (see, for example, the chapters by Settersten and Grenier). Third, on an optimistic note, the idea of precarity may also be used to point the way to new forms of resistance developed by individual older people and by larger social groups (an aspect identified in the chapters by Katz and Phillipson). Thus, the debate about precariousness is not only about understanding new vulnerabilities but also about the emergence of collective organizations in response, both across and within generations (see later in this chapter).

Introduction

This book examines some of the challenges facing older people, given a context of rising life expectancy, cuts to the welfare state, and widening economic and social inequalities. Although cultural representations and policy discourses depict older people as a group healthier and more prosperous than ever, many older people experience ageing amid insecurities that emerge in later life or are carried forward as a consequence of earlier disadvantage. At the same time, responsibility is now placed upon individuals and/or their families to secure support for many of the vulnerabilities associated with old age. The purpose of this book is to examine the potential of a new approach to thinking about the risks facing older people, drawing on debates in the field of ‘precarity’ and ‘precariousness’.

This book examines precarity and ageing from a range of disciplinary backgrounds, critical perspectives and contexts. The collection of chapters develops a distinctive approach to understanding the changing cultural, economic and social circumstances that create precarity for different groups of older people. This book explores what insights the concept of precarity might bring to an understanding of ageing across the life course, especially in the context of the radical sociopolitical changes affecting the lives of older people. In doing so, it draws attention to altered forms of ageing, but also to changing social and cultural contexts, and to realities that challenge the assumption that older people will be protected by existing social programmes or whatever resources can be marshalled privately.

This chapter sets the foundation for the book, with an exploration of the concept of precarity and its relevance to the field of ageing. It establishes precarity as a lens, or a means, for drawing attention to insecurity and risk in later life. The chapter begins with a discussion of the concept of precarity and precariousness in fields such as geography and labour studies, and how the concept has been applied to ageing and late life. It then poses a series of questions to guide reflection and ground the debates pursued by authors, followed by a brief overview of the chapters ahead.