Social ties and embeddedness in old age

Older Turkish labour migrants in Vienna

Bibliographic Data

ID3636912
AuthorsMonika Palmberger (0000-0002-0280-3769)
Year2017
Volume43
Issue2
Pages235-249
Publication date2017-01-25
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueNew Community (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0047-9586 • E-ISSN: 1469-9451
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/1369183x.2016.1238907
PMID28392746
OpenAlexW2547407193
LanguageEN
Citations received32
References cited35

This paper focuses on older Turkish labour migrants and their spouses, who mostly came to Vienna as young adults in the 1960s and thereafter. They are now entering retirement age and constitute a significant part of Vienna's older population. I analyse their understandings of transnational ageing, their social ties and feelings of social embeddedness. For those still mobile, active participation in one of Vienna's Turkish cultural/religious/political associations is identified as a particular source of social embeddedness. I argue that these voluntary associations provide an important place for older migrants to strengthen social ties and are relatively easy to access, including in old age. Nevertheless, I demonstrate that older Turkish labour migrants are exposed to several forms of discrimination, some of which are felt especially strongly in old age, including a lack of adequate institutionalised late life care. In the discussion of the paper, I critically revisit the debate on ethnicity as a resource versus ethnicity as a vulnerability factor in old age. I argue that this debate is misleading since it camouflages other central social categories and relations. I conclude by suggesting closer attention be paid to the specific but multiple generational experiences of older labour migrants and their spouses

Demographic economics · Embeddedness · Ethnic group · Feeling · Immigration · Interpersonal ties · Political science · Population · Population ageing · Social science · Sociology · Turkish · Vulnerability (computing · Demography · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity · Gender Studies · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy · Psychology · Social Psychology

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