["To put it bluntly, you feel useless, worthless" : The invisibility and marginalization of seniors living in poverty].

Authors

Ina Schildbach, Jan Igloffstein, Laura Graf

Published in

Zeitschrift fur Gerontologie und Geriatrie. Oct 01, 2026. Epub Oct 01, 2026.

Abstract

Germany's means-tested basic income support in old age (Grundsicherung im Alter) often goes unclaimed; shame is considered a potential barrier. Little is known about how old age poverty is translated into a socially mediated judgment of how people have lived their lives and of their worth as persons.
The aim is to reconstruct this process and the social invisibility that emerges from it under social and institutional conditions.
Drawing on prior content analysis, the qualitative secondary analysis triangulates perspectives from 16 interviews with people aged 60 years or older living in poverty, as well as 6 interviews and 1 group discussion with experts. The experts' work directly concerns old age poverty and people affected by it.
Material constraints are experienced as a rupture of biographical expectations and a devaluation of one's life achievements and personal worth. Shame is accompanied by withdrawal, self-concealment and avoidance of help-seeking. At the same time, gaining access to support requires individuals to take the initiative and disclose their need for assistance.
Social invisibility emerges from the interplay between self-concealment and institutional requirements that make access to support conditional on visibility. This process may contribute both to the non-use of support services and to the non-utilization of social welfare benefits.

PMID:
42821077
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 02 Oct 2026.

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