Longitudinal study on ageing and social inequality – ELVIS

Elvis combines qualitative and quantitative methods. The quantitative component consisted of using administrative data, census data, and data from surveys that had already been conducted, most often from public statistics. Some of these were cross-sectional, sometimes allowing for the construction of pseudo-cohort analyses, while others were longitudinal, allowing for the tracking of the trajectories of older people (career data from the Cnav, Share survey, Constances cohort, housing surveys, Permanent Demographic Sample, SRCV survey, ICT surveys). The qualitative component consisted of collecting 119 in-depth interviews with people born between 1935 and 1939, 1945 and 1949, and 1955 and 1959, with a variety of profiles (based on gender, CSG level, whether or not they were retired, and whether or not they lived alone). These interviews were collected in seven contrasting areas (roughly the size of inter-municipal communities) that were chosen to illustrate classes of a typology of municipalities across mainland France based on various indicators describing the urbanity gradient, demographic dynamics, social and demographic composition, and accessibility to shops and services in the municipalities. These interviews explored various topics in depth: residential, family and professional backgrounds; relationships with the local area and daily mobility; social interactions and solidarity; use of digital technology; heritage and standard of living; and prospects for the future. The survey featured a strong element of methodological innovation, favouring mixed methods. Biographical grids and mini-questionnaires were completed during the interviews. These tools enabled the collection of standardised information comparable to that from various surveys used in the quantitative component. The integration of this information into the quantitative data processing made it possible to explicitly link the qualitative data to the quantitative surveys. In several analyses, it was thus possible to position the 119 respondents in relation to statistical analyses, according to whether they were more or less typical or illustrative of statistical associations, thereby both deepening the quantitative results from the interviews and documenting the limitations of the statistical models produced.

1. End of career

Analysis of the interviews shows that men benefit more from extending their working lives — financially, domestically and symbolically. There are two opposing positions:

• one embraces ageing while rejecting the associated stigma, often from a feminist perspective;

• the other resists ‘ageing’ by prolonging adulthood, typical of privileged men with protective resources.

Data from the Constances cohort confirm that exposure to arduous working conditions during one's career leads to poorer health at ages 60-70 and to career endings more marked by unemployment or disability. Reforms extending working life thus accentuate inequalities based on career paths.

2. Inequalities in retirement and redeployment of resources

With age, housing becomes central to inequalities in living conditions. Widowhood causes greater mobility and a greater deterioration in housing conditions among the working classes.

The study of accessibility to services shows a high dependence on cars and significant regional disparities: rural areas offer uneven levels of service. Access depends on family and social networks, health and life events (widowhood, disappearance of shops).

Among poor pensioners, material deprivation often leads to a sense of injustice and reduced sociability, although some cope with it without experiencing major difficulties.

3. Private solidarity and inequalities

Family configurations change as people age: the ‘family circle’ (mutual support and proximity) remains dominant, but cohabitation and isolation are common. Retirement is a time for redefining family relationships.

During the Covid-19 crisis, inequalities in support became more pronounced: supportive families continued to help each other, while those who were more isolated became even more isolated.

Solidarity also plays a role in digital assistance: children and relatives support older people according to their digital capital.

4. Digital usage

ELVIS qualifies the notion of the ‘digital divide’: 69% of people over 60 use the Internet, but differences remain between generations (35% for those born between 1935 and 1939 compared to 84% for those born between 1955 and 1959) and social categories (50% of manual workers compared to 91% of managers).

Usage varies between disinterest, complete autonomy and partial dependence on those around them.

Two forms of socialisation explain these differences:

• professional, linked to the job and exposure to IT;

• family, where relatives play a mediating or driving role in maintaining intergenerational ties, especially among women.

While digital literacy is a practical issue, it is above all symbolic: many older people feel a sense of exclusion in the face of the increasing dematerialisation of services.

Promotion: Elvis researchers wish to continue promoting their research through various media. Promotion of various works in scientific journals:

- Article to be submitted on digital technology in the journal Bulletin de méthodologie sociologique on the comparison of quantitative and qualitative data

- On career paths in a demography journal

- On ageism, to be submitted to the journal Travail et Emploi

Research

- New qualitative interviews to be conducted with respondents already interviewed during the Elvis research to better understand how recompositions during ageing took place, both from the point of view of family and social support and from the point of view of the territory, a key focus of the project. This second round of interviews would involve a limited number of retirees, according to criteria yet to be defined.

- Deepening the ‘class and gender’ dimension: within the working classes, a comparative analysis of the biographical accounts of ELVIS retirees in precarious or stable economic situations according to generation, gender and family structure highlights certain social conditions that reduce the possibilities of receiving help from relatives (especially children) in the event of loss of autonomy or illness. Older women who have had interrupted careers and low incomes have been more affected by patriarchal family models. Conversely, people with stable professional and marital lives (mainly men) rely more on their spouses, reflecting gender inequalities.

- Ongoing research on the family networks of sociability and solidarity among older people and the social conditions for maintaining them during periods of crisis (Covid-19). The aim is to use data from the SHARE survey to examine whether there has been a change in the frequency of contact between respondents and their children between 2019 and the health crisis (2020-2021). The interviews will enable us to analyse the experiences of respondents (positive or negative perceptions), their relationships with their children and changes in family functioning. We will see whether intergenerational relationships and support practices reveal social inequalities.

- Study of the trajectories of immigrant families (households). Unevenly distributed across the territories studied, mainly present in the Ile-de-France region and more particularly in Seine-Saint-Denis, these families have very diverse social situations and life trajectories. The transition to retirement and the emergence of potential difficulties associated with ageing are experienced differently depending on the resources accumulated over time. We will study how these resources are mobilised throughout retirement and particularly during biographical breaks.

The proportion of individuals in the French population aged 60 years and above increased from 17% in 1980 to almost 27% in 2020. This population is today highly diverse and individual characteristics vary considerably on account of the coexistence of several generations of older people together with heterogeneous life course patterns within generations.
Our project aims to identify and characterise the formation and dimensions of inequalities during the time of the passage to retirement, to analyse their evolution during old age and to understand how social and family resources are mobilised to reduce them. In addition to the traditional resources taken into account in the analysis of inequalities (income, housing, heritage, health), one of the originalities of this project is to consider both the regional dimension and digital technologies as resources in their own right. Whereas statistical publications tend to conceal the heterogeneity of older people, particularly those related to social background, the project specifically deploys an analysis of these inequalities according to the life course and social positions. These inequalities will be studied in the context of gender, social class, as well as professional, family, residential and migratory trajectories. The cohorts selected for analysis are those born between 1920 and 1959. Comparing them intra- and intergenerationally will make it possible to understand the effects of economic, legal and social changes on inequalities among older people.
We hypothesise that major changes to social inequalities are taking place within older populations. These changes result from inadequate resources at the moment of the transition to retirement and they can be identified in the context of diversification and the increasing complexity of life course trajectories between the generations, differentiated capacities to redeploy these resources during retirement to cope with advancing age, and the reproduction of forms of inequality that occur in both public and private solidarities.
The project will use administrative data from different agencies and data from large scale panel surveys. One of its strong points is the unique access to data from the French National Pension Fund (Cnav, Caisse nationale d’assurance vieillesse) with rich data on professional career trajectories. At the same time the project will undertake an analysis of 150 qualitative interviews based on life course histories in five regions administrated by local branches of the Cnav (Carsats, Caisse d'Assurance Retraite et de la Santé au Travail). The research will thus employ several methodologies from both quantitative and qualitative perspectives in a mixed method approach, drawing on the expertise of a multidisciplinary team of sociologists, economists, demographers and geographers belonging to various organisations (Cnav, Ined, universities). The project thus provides an opportunity to assess the use of data from public bodies for research purposes and to combine them with major surveys and qualitative interviews.
This project responds to the need for knowledge on the processes that give rise to highly contrasting situations in terms of resources, housing, health and access to equipment and services at the moment of retirement and within retirement. The results of the research will inform policy makers as well as being relevant to professionals in their implementation of innovative actions designed to prevent and respond to a loss of autonomy. The proximity of the project contributors to the Carsat network and the Cnav's National Directorate of Social Action will enhance the organisation of interactive workshops on the needs identified in terms of housing and regional planning together with new preventative policies that respond to the consequences of advancing age.