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Transnationalism and the Study of Aging and Old Age

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Aging in European Societies

Part of the book series: International Perspectives on Aging ((Int. Perspect. Aging,volume 6))

Abstract

Although globalization and international migration are phenomena that have received some attention in gerontology, transnationalism has yet to engage the social gerontological community. This chapter will introduce this topic by addressing what transnationalism means, describing what characterizes transnational communities and presenting some of the research findings that transnational studies in other fields have brought to fore. Understanding what transnationalism entails and what differentiates transmigrants from other migrants is necessary if we are to exploit the possibilities that transnationalism offers to social gerontology. This is why this chapter will not only introduce research on transnationalism to social gerontologists but also discuss some of the concrete implications that this phenomenon has for the study of key gerontological issues such as, for example, old-age identity and intergenerational solidarity. In addition, this chapter will draw attention to the implications that transnationalism has for old-age policy and practice since this is a societal trend that Europe seems poorly equipped to handle. The underlying idea being that transnational communities pose both a challenge to gerontological research, policy, and practice and a fruitful point of departure from which the gerontological imagination can be expanded. This chapter aims, in other words, to delineate a research agenda for social gerontology that is transnationalism-aware.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The Age of Migration is the name of a book by Castles and Miller, which was published in 1998 and which argued that “the global order based on sovereign national states is giving away to something new” (Castles and Miller 1998, p. 1). This new order is witnessing not only the intensification of international migration but also the feminization (cf. Slany et al. 2010) and differentiation of migration waves across the world. These international migration trends are therefore deemed to be different than the ones we had a couple of decades ago.

  2. 2.

    In Warnes et al. (2004), these migrants are referred to as EILM, which stands for European International Labor Migrants and NEILM, which stands for Non-European International Labor Migrants.

  3. 3.

    In the typology in question, these migrants are referred to as FIRM and AIRM, respectively; the former stands for Family-Reunification International Retirement Migrants while the latter is the acronym they used to refer to Amenity-Seeking International Retirement Migrants.

  4. 4.

    The study of older migrants’ intergenerational relations is relatively underdeveloped at present. However, there are some European studies in this area, such as (besides the ones mentioned above): Katz and Lowenstein (1999) and Cylwik (2002) whose samples were constituted primarily of EILM; de Valk and Schans (2008) whose sample was constituted of people that belong to all four groups in Warnes et al. (2004) typology (i.e., EILM, NEILM, FIRM, and AIRM) and Zechner (2008) whose sample was exclusively constituted of EILM. Few studies on AIRM seem to have focused on intergenerational relations per se (O’Reilly’s (2000) study seems to be the exception).

  5. 5.

    In this respect, it must be mentioned that when discussing the impact of migration on intergenerational solidarity those that are left behind are also affected (cf. Coles 2001, King and Vullnetari 2006; Miltiades 2002 who have studied [in Turkey, Albania, and India, respectively] how elderly parents cope when their adult children migrate).

  6. 6.

    See Halvorsund and Kalfors (2007) for insight into the debate on quality of life and Torres (1999, 2001b, 2003, 2006b) for insight into the debate on successful aging.

  7. 7.

    Here, it seems appropriate to draw attention to the special issue on transnational social policy published in 2005 by Social Policy and Society in Vol. 4, No. 4.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Uppsala University, 751 26, Uppsala, Sweden

    Sandra Torres

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  1. Sandra Torres
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Correspondence to Sandra Torres .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Nicosia, Vosporou 23, Nicosia, 2370, Cyprus

    Constantinos Phellas

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Torres, S. (2013). Transnationalism and the Study of Aging and Old Age. In: Phellas, C. (eds) Aging in European Societies. International Perspectives on Aging, vol 6. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8345-9_18

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