Pandemic Precarity: Aging and Social Engagement

Abstract

Social isolation of older adults was identified as a key public health issue prior to the onset of COVID-19. The current crisis raises serious questions about how societies are organized and function in relation to aging populations. Drawing on resources in critical gerontology on “precarious aging” (Butler, 2009; Grenier & Phillipson, 2018) and an intersectional approach (Crenshaw, University of Chicago Legal Forum, 1(8), 139–167, 1989) that recognizes aging as an axis of oppression, we will (1) outline how this pandemic provides opportunities for candid dialogue about systemic institutional failures within leisure and social services sectors as they relate to older adults, taking important intersections of race, class, gender and ability into account; (2) examine how leisure and the arts have been positioned in response to social isolation of older people during a pandemic and (3) explore the risks of further marginalization inherent in these activities even as they are potentially crucial and transformative social lifelines for older adults. We call the further marginalization of older adults already precariously positioned “pandemic precarity.”

Keywords:

• Aging
• arts
• intersectionality
• leisure
• pandemic
• precarity

Notes

1 In fact, recent research suggests that 10% of young people aged 16–24 years report often being lonely, compared to 3% of older people (Office for National Statistics, 2018).

2 Important distinctions exist between isolation and loneliness that are beyond the scope of this paper. We highlight the two terms here because they are often linked and used interchangeably in media discourse related to aging.

3 In long-term care facilities in Quebec, each resident is entitled to only 26 minutes of leisure programming per week. Typically, residences employ one full-time employee plus 1 day/week part-time employee in a residence of 100 people.

4 Like the circumstances of personal support workers, largely racialized women, who because of precarious employment and the need to work in multiple facilities, along with a lack of personal protective equipment for staff in CHSLDs and the structure of the environment (shared living quarters, communal dining, etc.).