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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Old people as users and consumers of healthcare? a third age rhetoric for a fourth age reality? | | Author(s) | Chris Gilleard, Paul Higgs |
| Journal title | Ageing and Society, vol 18, part 2, March 1998 |
| Pages | pp 233-248 |
| Keywords | Health services ; Services ; Community care ; Consumer ; Social policy ; United Kingdom. |
| Annotation | This paper is concerned with the emergence of consumerism as a dominant theme in the culture surrounding the organisation and provision of welfare in contemporary societies. It addresses the dilemmas produced by a consumerist discourse for older people's healthcare, dilemmas which may be seen as the conflicting representations of third age and fourth age reality. The appearance of consumerism in the recent history of the United Kingdom (UK) healthcare system is reviewed and related to the various healthcare reforms over the last two decades and the more general development of consumerism as a cultural phenomenon. The authors argue that the emergence of consumer culture is both a central theme in post-modernist discourse and a key element in the political economy of the New Right. After examining criticisms of post-modernist representational politics, the limitations of consumerism and the privileged positions given to choice and agency within consumerist society, the relevance of such critical perspectives in judging the significance of the user/consumer movement in the lives of older people is considered. (AKM). |
| Accession Number | CPA-980814410 A |
| Classmark | L: I: PA: WY: TM2: 8 |
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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