The research results reported on this website were developed as part of an Insight grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). The project, entitled “Precarity and Aging: Unequal Experiences in Contemporary Late Life” (Grenier, PI, 2016-2023) aimed to understand and account for trajectories of risk and insecurity in relation to contemporary aging, expected life course transitions and dominant success-based models of aging in Canada. This project considered precarity in relation to aging and late life and explored trajectories of low income, (dis)ability, im/migration and later life. Our team bridged conceptual work on vulnerability, risk and exclusion with stakeholder interviews and policy analysis. Building on these we identified challenges and gaps, and made research-based suggestions to improve the lives of older people.
About The Precarity and Aging Project
Research Methods
The following methods were used to understand aging and precarity:
- In-person site visits and interviews (cancelled due to COVID-19)
- Conceptual scoping reviews on precarious aging (disability, risk, migration status)
- Analysis of policy documents, statistics and administrative data
- In depth stakeholder interviews with community service providers
- Policy review and content analysis of documents
For a list of project outputs and publications please click here for the Project CV.
Feel free to reach out if you are having trouble locating an article.
Key Findings
“Our suggestion is that precarity offers a complementary and interdisciplinary lens to understand inequality by building on existing models such as cumulative advantage and disadvantage, the social determinants of health, and/or social exclusion, while at the same time incorporating insights from older people.”
*Grenier et al. (2019), The Gerontologist, 60(8), p. 629
Research Team
Profressor Amanda Grenier
Norman and Honey Schipper Chair in Gerontological Social Work at the University of Toronto Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work and Baycrest Hospital
Professor Chris Phillipson
Co-Director of the Manchester Institute for Collaborative Research on Ageing
Professor Debbie Rudman
Associate Professor in the School of Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, Western University
Professor Patrik Marier
Scientific Director of CREGÉS, a university research center at the Integrated Health and Social Services University Network
Professor Karen Kobayashi
Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Victoria
Project Outcomes and Findings
Funding
This project was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (Project # 435-2016-0933).
Our Partners
(@utoronto.ca): amanda.grenier
Address:
University of Toronto and Baycrest Hospital
246 Bloor St. West,
Toronto, ON
M5S 1V4