Everyday life and life course of old people living in poverty

Project Code: j5-4587

SICRIS

The research addresses old-age poverty, a pressing problem in Slovenia and in the EU countries, as data show that poverty increases with age, while there is also a significant gender gap in poverty. The main aim of the research is to determine how the regulation of the Slovenian welfare state over time (since the end of the WW2) defines, standardizes and enforces norms affecting the lives of the elderly and how these norms affect decisions they take through their life-course. The relevance of the research is in the conceptualization of old-age poverty as the accumulation of structural inequalities (in educational levels, household type, health, employment history, care obligations, etc) and in including the intersectionality perspective in order to acknowledge the specific situation of deprivileged groups such as ethnic minorities, migrants, persons with disabilities etc. The complexity of the sources of inequality manifesting in poverty is a result of historical development and cannot be explained in the context of the current situation alone, therefore when researching poverty the life-course perspective is essential. Therefore, the phenomenon of old-age poverty needs to be examined by considering the impacts at the structural level, at the level of cultural patterns and at the level of public policies in a longitudinal perspective. By studying the processes and events in the lives of the elderly that have affected their social status in old age, we will be able to point out the key factors that need to be considered when developing measures, regulations and policies to reduce poverty.

The temporal dynamics of changes in lifestyles of the elderly and the key moments leading to the accumulation of inequalities in old age cannot be identified only by using statistics and quantitative methods, which are usually used when measuring poverty. Therefore, a mixed method approach will be used. The quantative part of the research will analyze international and Slovenian databases related to poverty. In the quantitative part, social and other policies affecting or regulating old-age poverty will be analyzed. We will use methodological triangulation for data gathering. The main research method consists of in-depth biographical interviews, focusing on five key spheres:

• Early life and growing up: exploring incentives and support older people had regarding their desires, aspirations and career paths into adulthood, the hinderances and incentives they experienced in early childhood, and how they were affected by gender socialization;
• Education: how the participants made decisions regarding their education, how their social environment affected those choices, whether they interrupted their educational path, and the impact of education on their employment;
• Labor market and employment: exploring employment dynamics, types of contracts, eventual interruptions of employment, the frequency of sick leave and other factors affecting social status in the old age;
• Household type and care work: in this sphere, the gender plays the most important role as reproductive work in the private sphere is largely understood as female work, thus we presume that assuming care responsibilities is the strongest factor inluencing gender inequality in old age;
• The everyday life of the elderly living in poverty reveals the dimensions of poverty, as it refers to the lack of material well-being that accumulates through the life course and provides security in old age. The study of everyday life also reveals the ways of coping with poverty and the specific organization of everyday life in poverty, which can be positive (helping to survive) or negative (decline in health).

The results will be published in articles and a monograph and presented at a conference at the end of the project.