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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Towards a political economy of old age | | Author(s) | Alan Walker |
| Journal title | Ageing and Society, vol 1, part 1, March 1981 |
| Pages | pp 73-94 |
| Keywords | Social welfare ; Economics ; Poverty. |
| Annotation | Although widespread poverty in old age has been recognised in Britain for at least 100 years, research on age and ageing has tended to concentrate on individual adjustment to old age, and in turn, on narrow functionalist explanations of depressed social status. Older people have been treated as a homogeneous group facing common problems. In contrast, an approach to aging based on political economy will examine the relative social and economic status of different groups of older people, as well as the relationship between older people and younger generations. Thus, it is argued that poverty in old age is primarily a function of low economic and social status prior to retirement, and the depressed social status of the retired, and secondarily, of the relatively low level of state benefits. Social policies which have failed to recognise inequality in old age and the causes of low economic and social status have therefore failed to tackle the problem of poverty and low incomes. The starting point for policy-makers should be the labour market and the social relationship between age and the labour market. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-051125008 A |
| Classmark | TY: W: W6 |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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