5 Escaping ageism
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Marion Repetti
Abstract
This chapter uses fieldwork data to discuss retirement migration in relation to the social precarity that can result from age-based discrimination. We show how the ageism in our interviewees’ home countries led them to feel excluded or to anticipate this, and how they found that they were valued in their new countries, rather than burdens. Avoiding ageism and social exclusion was not their primary motivation for migrating, but finding that they were not marginalised in their new countries based on their age emerged as an important aspect of their happiness. Further, the apparent absence of ageism mattered regardless of our respondents’ class. We begin the chapter with our respondents’ accounts of being considered burdens in their home countries, which they contrast to their perception of being valued as contributors in their host countries. We highlight the experiences of older women, who feel more visible and safer than they had felt at home. Then, we discuss the advantages retirement migrants have found in residing among age peers. We discuss the internalised ageism that many respondents demonstrate, which we take to suggest that their avoidance of social precarity is, at best, incomplete.
Abstract
This chapter uses fieldwork data to discuss retirement migration in relation to the social precarity that can result from age-based discrimination. We show how the ageism in our interviewees’ home countries led them to feel excluded or to anticipate this, and how they found that they were valued in their new countries, rather than burdens. Avoiding ageism and social exclusion was not their primary motivation for migrating, but finding that they were not marginalised in their new countries based on their age emerged as an important aspect of their happiness. Further, the apparent absence of ageism mattered regardless of our respondents’ class. We begin the chapter with our respondents’ accounts of being considered burdens in their home countries, which they contrast to their perception of being valued as contributors in their host countries. We highlight the experiences of older women, who feel more visible and safer than they had felt at home. Then, we discuss the advantages retirement migrants have found in residing among age peers. We discuss the internalised ageism that many respondents demonstrate, which we take to suggest that their avoidance of social precarity is, at best, incomplete.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- Series editors’ preface iv
- List of tables vi
- Acknowledgements vii
- Introduction 1
- Retirement migration 13
- Precarity and the welfare state in home and host countries 28
- Escaping economic precarity 46
- Escaping ageism 67
- Relying on global privileges 89
- Health and assistance precarity in later life 104
- Retirement migration, precarity and age 118
- Notes 131
- References 132
- Index 146
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- Series editors’ preface iv
- List of tables vi
- Acknowledgements vii
- Introduction 1
- Retirement migration 13
- Precarity and the welfare state in home and host countries 28
- Escaping economic precarity 46
- Escaping ageism 67
- Relying on global privileges 89
- Health and assistance precarity in later life 104
- Retirement migration, precarity and age 118
- Notes 131
- References 132
- Index 146
