Precariousness as Form of Vulnerability Ageing in Mexico

This paper examines the perspectives of older people in Mexico in terms of precariousness. Relevant literature is reviewed and descriptive statistics from various government surveys are analysed in detail. The evidence suggests that the current structure of social security and pensions, education and health status, among others, perpetuates the failure to provide security and quality of life for older people in Mexico. This paper hypothesises that this situation of precariousness is probably not only related to the economic resources of the State, but above all to an ideological substrate based on a conception of older people in terms of vulnerability, decrepitude and deficit. As a result, older people appear to be infantilised and deprived of their human rights. The lack of stable options creates a horizon of vulnerability that may change in the long term, politically speaking, if older people become a decisive electoral force. Perhaps this political presence will give rise to coherent alternatives in terms of human rights, dignity and social solidarity.