From Boomers to Millennials: A research agenda for exploring the extended life course

To the best of our knowledge, we are living in societies with unprecedented age structures. If the ageing population has been described as a product of important social changes, is also pointed to as a powerful factor for contemporaneous social transformation. Ageing is about the future: our individual future and our collective future.

In this session, I will present the research project “FROM BOOMERS TO MILLENNIALS: MAPPING INEQUALITIES IN PROSPECTS AND TRANSITIONS FOR THE EXTENDED LIFE COURSE” (2020.04027.CEECIND). It is mixed-method research focused on the next cohorts of Europeans entering old age – Boomers, GenXs, and Millennials. These cohorts are expected to live longer than previous ones. In this extended life course, the ability to update productive assets (skills), take care of vitality assets (health) and endure change (transformative assets) are key to ensuring better chances for active and healthy ageing.  The project intents to address social change by exploring different empirical perspectives: by comparing different cohorts in key resources for later life; by estimating life transitions timings in productive, vital, and transformational domains by education level; and by discussing possible implications related to the digitalization of the health system, in work, care, and social participation. The proposal advocates for the need for an interdisciplinary perspective on ageing inequalities – in which Demography is central – and it is an open call for future collaborations in that pursuit.

Keywords: Ageing, Inequality, Longevity