Ageing, Poverty and Agency: Reconceptualising Resistance to Poverty among Older Adults

The experiences and daily lives of older adults living in poverty are underexplored topics in the literature. Specifically, the question of agency and how older people cope with poverty and resist it requires further investigation. Ruth Lister's model is the theoretical foundation of this study, which emphasises individuals' ability to be active agents in shaping their life stories. Lister's renowned model of agency in poverty focuses on working-age people and is widely used by scholars. The current qualitative study expands on Lister's theoretical articulation of agency by presenting the stories of twenty-seven older people living in poverty in Israel. The findings demonstrate how, under the social constraints of ageing, people tend to focus on the personal and local agency of survival because strategic and more political forms of agency are structurally inaccessible. These findings have practical implications. Social workers can play a crucial role in recognising older adults' agency, standing with them in their struggles, advocating for them by addressing structural barriers and facilitating their access to resources. We also employ these findings to develop an expanded theoretical articulation of agency that incorporates agents and their respective social circles. Despite the global challenges surrounding poverty and ageing, the reality of how older adults navigate their impoverished circumstances has been neglected. The purpose of this article is to shed light on a significantly overlooked aspect of how older adults deal with and resist poverty. This qualitative study draws upon Ruth Lister's established agency model that focuses on people's ability to be active agents within the social structure. While this model is known for its application to working-age demographics, we wish to examine its application to the experiences of twenty-seven older adults living in poverty in Israel. Within the confines of ageing, personal and local forms of agency become paramount to survival, according to this study, but strategic and political avenues of agency remain structurally elusive. Social work practitioners can draw practical lessons from this study. In recognition of older adults' agency, social workers are called upon to stand alongside them, addressing personal struggles and advocating for structural change. Overall, these findings contribute to an expanded understanding of agency, which integrates the intricate dynamics that exist between individuals and their social spheres.