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fifteen - Ageing, wellbeing and development: Brazil and South Africa
- Edited by Alan Walker, The University of Sheffield
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- Book:
- The New Dynamics of Ageing
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 09 April 2022
- Print publication:
- 28 February 2018, pp 307-324
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Summary
Introduction
There is considerable diversity of population trends across low- and middle-income countries and not all have reached the final stage of demographic transition. Despite this, population ageing is accelerating in almost all countries, particularly in middle-income emerging economies. The speed of demographic change poses significant policy challenges for these countries, and they have limited time to set in place the necessary institutions (Lloyd-Sherlock, 2010). Building a knowledge base capable of supporting effective policies addressing rapid population ageing in such contexts is urgent. This chapter reports on the design and main findings of the research project Ageing, Well-Being and Development: A Comparative Study of Brazil and South Africa.
The research focuses on the wellbeing of older people and their households. For all countries, successfully meeting the challenges of population ageing involves ensuring that older populations enjoy adequate levels of wellbeing. For countries like Brazil and South Africa, the main challenge is to ensure that older people, and public policy that targets them, are fully integrated into economic and social development. A key hypothesis guiding the research project was that ageing, wellbeing and development are closely interlinked.
• The research aimed to provide answers to the following questions:
• What are the main effects of individual ageing on the dynamics of household income and livelihoods in Brazil and South Africa?
• What are the effects of individual ageing on household dynamics?
• With the benefit of cross-country comparisons, which are the institutions and social structures that could best support ‘active ageing’ in developing countries?
• What is the impact of pension entitlements and other anti-poverty programmes on the wellbeing of older people and their households?
This research examined the impact of individual ageing on the wellbeing of older people and their households in low-income areas Brazil and South Africa, with a view to informing appropriate policies to address the challenges of accelerated population ageing in developing countries. The main source of information for this study was a longitudinal and comparative survey of older persons and their households in South Africa and Brazil constructed as part of the project. Building on an earlier study in the two countries undertaken in 2001-03, we collected a second round of survey data by visiting the same households in 2008/09.
four - Social inclusion of older people in developing countries: relations and resources
- Edited by Thomas Scharf, Newcastle University, Norah C. Keating, University of Alberta
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- Book:
- From Exclusion to Inclusion in Old Age
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 07 September 2022
- Print publication:
- 27 June 2012, pp 51-70
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Summary
Introduction
Development studies offers a specific set of perspectives on poverty, deprivation and welfare, which take particular account of conditions of generalised scarcity, limited access to salaried labour and weak formal sector institutions (Gough and Wood, 2004). While a great deal of the literature about development focuses on resources and resource deficits, the relational dimensions of development and underdevelopment are increasingly under the spotlight. New theoretical frameworks, such as Amartya Sen's (1999) work on capabilities, functionings and entitlements, discussed in more detail in Chapter Five, have found fertile ways of combining attention on resources and relations. These, more comprehensive, approaches demonstrate that poverty and deprivation cannot be reduced to deficits in material resources alone, but must also take account of other dimensions of social exclusion. While these approaches have generated some valuable insights, they have rarely been applied specifically to older people (Lloyd-Sherlock, 2002). This chapter aims to contribute to this emerging literature by examining the role of material resources and social relations in shaping the social inclusion and exclusion of older people in Latin America and South Africa.
The multifaceted nature of poverty and exclusion, and the diverse range of social and economic conditions in developing countries, suggest the need to set the boundaries of this chapter's discussion with care. Our focus is on two dimensions of social exclusion that affect people in later life: access to financial security and pensions; and older people's perceptions of inclusion and the quality of their social relationships. While the former provides insights into the material resources domain of social exclusion, the latter highlights relational dimensions of the exclusion construct (Scharf et al, 2005).
In exploring issues relating to perceived social relations and financial security in two middle-income countries, Brazil and South Africa, we are able to take advantage of a unique data set. Our analysis draws on a survey of around 1000 households with older people in Brazil and South Africa, conducted in 2008/09 as part of a research project on ‘Ageing, well-being and development’. In addition to the survey, a qualitative component involved in-depth interviews with people living in households that were also part of the household survey. The project’s main aim has been to explore the well-being of older people and their households in the two countries.