ELVIS

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.