Aging & Social Change: Thirteenth Interdisciplinary Conference

Abstract

The lens of precarity can be used on multiple levels when examining ageing; micro, in relation to precarious older workers; meso, in relation to the precarious public institutions/welfare states; and macro, as a paradigmatic shift, new doxa or discourse. Some also argue that precarity could be seen as a new form of socio-economic mode, coined as ‘precarity capitalism’ (Azmanova, 2020). This new social-economic mode has certain unique characteristics which have developed since the 2008 global economic crash. The first being the ‘social irresponsibility rule’ which transfers risk from society to weaker individual actors. The second, that public authorities allocate opportunities to individuals which enhance pre-existing advantages. She also argues precarity capitalism has distorted earlier versions, like ‘welfare state’ capitalism, which used to progressively redistribute wealth, but now does so in pursuit of competition. However, in this paper I argue that the concept of precarity capitalism could also be useful to draw together different classed, ethnic, and aged groups, all experiencing precarity in relation to environmental destruction (something that everyone is or will be affected by), with the aim of using these collective grievances to challenge precarity capitalism and create intergenerational solidarity.