About The Precarity and Aging Project

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.

precarity and aging

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

Project Outcomes and Findings

Funding

This project was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (Project # 435-2016-0933).

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Our Partners

uoftsocial
baycrest
Manchester.
concordia
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University of Victoria
Email:

(@utoronto.ca): amanda.grenier

Address: 

University of Toronto and Baycrest Hospital
246 Bloor St. West,
Toronto, ON
M5S 1V4

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