Ethnicity, race and migration in later life

Abstract

This chapter begins with a consideration of the differences between ethnicity and race, and the relative salience of these divisions in Europe and North America. In considering race, the legacy of slavery continues to exercise its effects on black-white divisions throughout the life course. The chapter considers two perspectives on this division in later life, that of ‘weathering’ and the accumulation of disadvantage and that of resilience and its accumulation with age. We then go on to contrast the structural inequalities of race with those of ethnicity, arguing that unlike the former the cultural distinction serves to maintain a sense of community and identity as well as imposing a source of limitation. Successive patterns of international migration have created a changing demography of later life. This, we suggest, is creating a set of dilemmas over what constitutes home, an issue that is highlighted by retirement and how and where later life should best be lived.