Situational Inequalities in the Pandemic and Features of Older People in Post-­Pandemic Time

Abstract

This article examines situational inequalities that arose during the pandemic and the peculiarities of older people’s adaptation to them in the post-pandemic period. The research focuses on everyday projections of inequalities of older people living separately in a federal city and rural areas. In order to look at inequalities, the work uses microsociological optics, which has made it possible to analyze how structural inequalities affect the lives of the elderly and what are the possibilities of adaptation after the pandemic that has triggered the processes of protection and self-preservation. The empirical basis of the study is 30 semi-structured interviews conducted in 2022 in the federal city of St. Petersburg and villages of the Republic of Karelia. As the main inequalities, the article describes situational inequalities, such as digital inequalities, inequalities in access to and receipt of information, spatial inequalities, and inequalities in access to health care. It is shown that emotional reflection on the past, the presence of hobbies or the emergence of new ones, the revision of previous resources, types of communication and ways of solving problems, the shift of emphasis from caring for family and relatives to caring for oneself create positive opportunities for adaptation, reduce the fears and worries of older people about the return of the COVID‑19 pandemic situation and the inequalities it creates.