Jour Fixe: “Societal Norms and Unequal Ageing: The Role of Life Courses and Social Capital”

The Zukunftskolleg invited everyone to the jour fixe led by Ariane Bertogg (Postdoctoral Fellow / Dept. of History and Sociology)

Ariane Bertogg (Postdoctoral Fellow / Dept. of History and Sociology) gave a talk entitled “Societal Norms and Unequal Ageing: The Role of Life Courses and Social Capital”.

Abstract:

In the context of the proposed SNSF Starting, I plan to investigate the role of societal norms for inequalities in later life health. Despite a rich literature on socioeconomic and gender inequalities in health, healthy ageing differentials between welfare regimes, little is still known about the role of social-cultural pathways that shape potentials and risks for (equal) healthy aging within and across countries around the globe. Drawing on the life course framework, this project will test mechanisms related to life course factors and social capital both in mid-adulthood and later life and link them to both behavioral and distribute social norms. The empirical analyses rely on large-scale secondary surveys of older adults using advanced quantitative methods for causal analysis. I select micro-level data sets which are designed to be harmonized across countries in Europe, North and Latin America, and Southeast and East Asia, and complement them with contextual level indicators of social norms consisting of aggregate survey data. I propose a five-year research program which will host two PhD students and one postdoctoral researcher.