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Economic inequality in later life and imagination of the future

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 July 2022

David J. Ekerdt Open the ORCID record for David J. Ekerdt [Opens in a new window]  and
Erin Adamson
David J. Ekerdt*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA
Erin Adamson
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Email: dekerdt@ku.edu
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Abstract

The personal futures of older adults are continually in mind, motivating goals, desires and plans. People approach the near and long term with differing agentic traits and dispositions, and they face forward, as well, from differing standpoints according to socio-economic position. This is a study of how persons who are economically privileged diverge in their future thought from persons of modest means, asking how income level qualifies the capacity to imagine, and foresee affecting, the future. We draw upon interviews conducted with 42 older, community-dwelling individuals in the Midwestern United States of America, a sample that was partitioned into two groups, one with below-median incomes versus one with incomes above 200 per cent of median. Interviews disclosed various foci of future thought with common contents among the two groups. Three foci, however, confirmed between-group differences in confidence about handling possible material and support needs, and also in enacting idealised norms of retirement. The underlying theme of these foci – financial security, long-term supports and services, and trips and travel – was the perceived affordability of the future. We conclude that there is indeed a material basis for imagination of and proactivity toward the future. When paradigms about later life set expectations that idealise lifestyle choice, consumption and prudential preparation for the future, these are prospects towards which some can reach more readily than others.

Keywords

agencyfinancial securityfuture thoughtinequalityproactivity
Type
Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 44 , Issue 6 , June 2024 , pp. 1435 - 1452
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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