Introduction

What can a life course perspective reveal about precarity? The ‘personological’ paradigm of life course research (Dannefer and Settersten, 2010) attempts to account for how individuals’ past experiences affect later ones. However, a life course perspective on ageing is much more than understanding the shadow of the past or studying a phenomenon over time. The ‘institutional’ paradigm of life course research (Dannefer and Settersten, 2010) emphasizes the role of social forces in opening and closing opportunities and structuring pathways through life. Both of these paradigms provide important lessons for understanding precarity: when, where, how and for whom precarity occurs, and what legacies precarity carries in the lives of individuals, families and societies. I begin with three broad propositions informed by these paradigms – that there is a need to understand precarity across levels, domains and time (inspired by Bernardi et al's (2019) ‘life course cube’) – before turning to more specific insights about how life course dynamics matter for precarity in later life.

Precarity occurs across multiple, often interacting, ‘levels’

Understanding precarity relies on explicitly differentiating between three distinct and interacting levels of analysis: inner-individual, individual and supra-individual (Bernardi et al, 2019). The innerindividual level comprises variables like genetic, biological, physiological and psychological attributes (such as dispositions, values, attitudes and subjective well-being). The individual level comprises ‘biographical’ variables that reflect social and behavioural statuses and outcomes – such as education, whom one lives with or where one lives, social class, or special legal rights or social privileges (such as citizenship or gender) – and which affect the type and amount of resources an individual has to invest or to act. The supra-individual level comprises attributes of the external sociocultural environments in which an individual's behaviour takes place, environments that potentially affect individual opportunities, choices and behaviours. These range from the immediate environment (such as personal and professional relationships and networks) to larger social institutions (such as educational and health care systems or workplaces), together with more distal contexts (such as the economy, culture, demography, and historical events and periods of social change).

These levels, and the interactions between them, are key spaces for understanding precarity. For instance, precarity might stem from interactions between the supra and individual levels. Consider demography. First, declining fertility, combined with increases in life expectancy, have created longer and more interdependent relationships among family members.

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.