Economic capital as a means of coping with the social roles of young olds

Abstract

Young olds are a target group for active ageing policies. They are expected to stay economically active as long as possible, to take care of their family members, and at the same time to engage in leisure and self-development activities. Their activity is expected to promote generational equity. Through these expectations, young olds are homogenized on the basis of age, and important stratification factors such as gender, class, and ethnicity are not considered. In this article, mixed methods are used on the example of young olds in the Czech Republic to argue that young olds are often overloaded by their social roles. The negative effects of role overload mainly affect women with low economic capital. Role harmonization and choices of coping strategies are economically conditioned, despite the relatively flattened pensions.