Millennium Nucleus for the Study of the Life Course and Vulnerability

Social inequality is one of the greatest challenges faced by protection systems in Chile and the world. Has been studied mainly on the basis of aggregated population data, and transversally in time. However, inequalities emanate from a process of interaction between the individual socioeconomic advantages and disadvantages, accumulated by each person throughout their lives, with institutional structures.

The Study of Vulnerability. A new perspective to understand inequality

The interaction between individual advantages and disadvantages with institutional structures causes some
individuals to face vulnerability. Vulnerability is defined as a status of social fragility or instability that prevents individuals from adequately integrating into different social domains such as education, work, family and health, and during different stages of life like chilhood, youth, adulthood, old age.

Specific Contributions:

• Examine processes of social vulnerability throughout the course of life in 4 social domains:education (E), labor market and retirement (LM), health and well-being (H), and family and demographic dynamics (F).
• Determine the medium and long-term impact of vulnerability status, on different later life status.
• Generate rigorous evidence to evaluate and design social policies related to vulnerabilities in E, LM, F, and H.