From Age Stratification to Inequalities System: an Intersectional Approach in the Sociology of Age

From Age Stratification to Inequalities System:
an Intersectional Approach in the Sociology of Age


Chernova Zh.V.

Dr. Sci. (Sociol.), leading research fellow, Sociological Institute of FCTAS RAS, St. Petersburg, Russia chernova30@mail.ru

ID of the Article: 10928

Rubric: Social policies. Social structure

For citation:

Chernova Zh.V. From Age Stratification to Inequalities System: an Intersectional Approach in the Sociology of Age. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2026. No 4. P. 112-120



Abstract

Sociological research has long treated age as a control variable rather than an independent axis of inequality. This article advances a conceptualization of age as an autonomous stratification principle, comparable to gender and class, that structures access to resources, shapes hierarchies of recognition, and establishes regimes of inclusion and exclusion. The theoretical framework integrates three complementary approaches: Anne Barrett’s tripartite model distinguishing age as institution, performance, and identity; de São José and Timonen’s multi-level conception addressing macro-, meso-, and micro-levels alongside age dispositions as internalized schemes linking structures to practices; and the “doing age” perspective developed by Cheryl Laz and Clary Krekula, which foregrounds the performative and embodied dimensions of age construction. Middle-aged women serve as a critical case for analysis, representing a point where cumulative life course effects reach maximum density while normative expectations remain ambivalent and contested. An intersectional analysis reveals how the “triple standard” of aging – operating at the intersection of age, gender, and class – combines with spatial differentiation of normative regimes to produce unequal access to resources for managing age and visibility. The article introduces into Russian sociological discourse a conceptual apparatus for analyzing age as a system of inequality, offering analytical tools applicable to both theoretical elaboration and empirical investigation.


Keywords
age, age inequality; doing age; age dispositions; intersectionality; life course; middle-aged women

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