[Inequalities during the pandemic in the lives of urban and rural older people.]

Abstract

This article examines the socio-cultural mechanisms of inequalities faced by older people during the pandemic. The empirical basis of the study is sociological semi-structured interviews with older people who lived in the federal city of St. Petersburg and villages of the Republic of Karelia. A total of 30 interviews with older people of different ages were collected. The mechanisms of inequalities are considered in the study as established scenarios in which inequalities arise in the lives of older people. Based on the thematic analysis, the study identifies three mechanisms of socio-cultural inequalities: the mechanism of spatial isolation, the mechanism of social isolation in the labor sphere, and the personal mechanism of social inequalities. Each of the socio-cultural mechanisms of inequalities is characterized by different themes that older people used to describe the pandemic situation. The data obtained in the study contribute both to understanding the features of emerging inequalities in the lives of older people and to understanding the possibilities of adaptation of older people to emerging inequalities and the possible overcoming of social exclusion by older people.