1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910172227403321

Autore

Vincent John A. <1947->

Titolo

Old age / / John Vincent

Pubbl/distr/stampa

London ; ; New York, : Routledge, 2003

ISBN

1-134-49661-3

90-366-1910-6

1-280-07060-9

0-203-44992-4

0-415-26822-2

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

ix, 190 p. : ill

Collana

Key ideas

Classificazione

71.36

Disciplina

305.26

Soggetti

Older people - Social conditions

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [170]-184) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Intro -- OLD AGE -- Copyright -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- Key questions -- 1 The experience of old age -- The social construction of old age -- Social regulation of age in Britain -- The importance of pensions in establishing the modern category 'old age' -- Social cues to old age -- A cross-cultural comparison of the construction of old age -- Standard of living and quality of life in old age -- Women and widows -- Expectations of old age -- 2 The succession of generations -- Social groups based on age -- What do we mean by generation? -- Generation, community and inequality -- The changing experience of different historical cohorts -- The interaction of generational expectations -- Generations and social change -- The social solidarity of generations -- 3 Global crises and old age -- What is globalisation, how might it impact on old age? -- Older people and poverty -- Old age: population and environmental crises -- Is there a global demographic crisis? -- Conclusion: older people in an unequal world -- 4 Old age, equity and intergenerational conflict? -- The demographic crisis and national pension schemes -- The issue is not demographic - the manufacture of a crisis -- Globalisation and the nation state, implications for welfare -- Globalisation and the growth of pensions as



a force in world financial markets -- Problems with the economic arguments for pension fund capitalism -- Old age and the power of capital -- 5 Consumerism, identity and old age -- Old age and identity -- Diversity in old age -- Identity and life history -- Consumption and identity -- Choice, identity and old age -- 6 Old age, sickness, death and immortality -- Knowledge of ageing and death -- Ageing as the subject of biological science -- The medicalisation of old age -- Avoiding old age -- Individualism and sociology of body.

Old age and death -- Conclusion: old age and ageism -- Liberation of old age -- Notes -- Index.

Sommario/riassunto

Recent decades have seen a fundamental change in the age structure of many western societies. In these societies it is now common for a fifth to a quarter of the population to be retired, for fewer babies to be born than is required to sustain the size of the population and for life expectancy to exceed eighty years old. This book provides an overview of the key issues arising from this demographic change.