How life course dynamics matter for precarity in later life
Richard A. Settersten
Abstract
As the profile of older adults in the Global North changes with increasing proportions of foreign-born aging populations, there is a need to examine the intersecting markers of immigration, race/ethnicity, cultural beliefs and practices, poverty, and socioeconomic inequality among older immigrants (OI) as they manifest in their experiences of invisibility, marginalization, and exclusion.Despite their demographic significance, there has been little research on the complex and varied experiences of aging, risk, and insecurity among this group, particularly in the context of life course events like migration.A more comprehensive understanding of vulnerability and social risk among OI, as Grenier et al. ( 2017) point out, necessitates that closer attention be paid to the fragmented lived experiences of those outside the labour force, i.e., recently-arrived OIs.To this end, the framework of precarity is useful as it brings into sharp relief the creation of marginal identities that are often tied to migration.