Attention to social class is a major issue confronting the study of ageing in the 21st century, yet it has been significantly overlooked to date.
Social class in later life: Power, identity and lifestyle provides the most up-to-date collection of new and emerging research relevant to contemporary debates on the relationship between class, culture, and later life It explores the interface between class dynamics and later life, whilst acting as a critical guide to the ways in which age and class relations ‘interlock’ and ‘intersect’ with each other, whilst examining the emergence of new forms of inequalities alongside the interrogation of more traditional divisions.
Social class in later life brings together a range of international high profile scholars to develop a more sophisticated, analytical and empirical understanding of class dynamics in later life. It will be of major interest to students and researchers examining the implications of global ageing, and will appeal to scholars concerned with the development of a more critical and engaged gerontology.
57 4 Social Class and Domesticity Out of the conceptualization of housework as work which is a major theme of this study arises the need to spell out the different components in what is broadly termed women’s ‘domesticity’. One of the most important of these is the concept of overall satisfaction with housework. Other components relate to attitudes to housework and the perceived status of housewifery. The discussion in this chapter has a twofold purpose. On the one hand the aim is to describe patterns of domesticity in the present sample of housewives. But
87 FIVE Poverty, social class and social immobility Introduction Class distinctions do not die; they merely learn new ways of expressing themselves. Each decade we shiftily declare we have buried class; each decade the coffin stays empty. (Richard Hoggart, 1989) The greatest injustice in Britain today is that your life is still largely determined not by your efforts and talents but by where you come from, who your parents are and what schools you attend. (Conservative and Unionist Party, 2017) “I wanted to be a forensic scientist when I left school
53 FOUR Measuring social class in later life Alexandra Lopes introduction The interaction between later life and social class has been measured from two opposite standpoints. The first tends to place ‘old age’ on the side of the independent variables and highlights how retirement arises as a trigger of loss and a factor of downward social mobility. This loss is substantiated in different aspects, not only the loss of income and material security as a direct result of exiting the labour market, but also loss as an indirect result of: growing unmet needs for
67 FOUR The connections among racial identity, social class, and public policy? Nikki Khanna In 2010, over nine million Americans (2.9% of the population) identified as multiracial on the US Census—a 32% increase in the last decade (Jones and Bullock, 2012). Harris and Sim (2002: 625, emphases added), however, noting the fluidity of racial identity among multiracial people, claim that the Census likely failed to fully capture the number of Americans with ancestors from two or more racial groups, arguing that these numbers merely reflect a “count of a
73 FIVE Social class, age and identity in later life Martin Hyde and Ian Rees Jones introduction This chapter will examine social class identity and age identity in later life in the context of social change. As previously noted in the introductory chapter, it is important for research to be sensitive to the subjective as well as the objective elements of social class in later life. Thus, while it is critical to look at how the material structures of class can impact on the life chances and living conditions of those in later life, as has been done by the
169 TEN the changing significance of social class in later life Paul Higgs and Marvin Formosa The theme around which this volume has been organised is the continuing utility of the idea of social class for the understanding of contemporary later life. Within the chapters published in this book, we have seen many different ways in which social class continues to be a valuable concept for researchers, as well as constituting a critical aspect of old age. Elizangela Storelli and John B. Williamson’s chapter on the global implications of changes to pensions
Introduction Social class refers to the hierarchal social stratification of society, which, from a Bourdieusian theoretical lens, can be enacted across social, cultural, economic and symbolic lines ( Bourdieu, 1977 ; Wacquant, 2006 ). For social workers, social class jeopardises and undermines social justice ( Strier et al, 2012 ); yet, it endures unabated as a contrary condition to just and egalitarian societies. Towards a more concise and theoretically informed understanding of social class and social justice, this article presents selected social
Social class and its related inequalities have been a mainstay of research in the social sciences. Research into class-related inequalities has existed alongside, but has often not been connected with, the concerns of class theory. Despite both approaches seeming to depend upon one another in order to give substance to their claims of social significance, a strange lack of engagement continues to exist between the two traditions ( Scambler and Higgs, 1999) . In contrast to the limited work on social class theory, social class-related inequalities have been
Key messages Investigates the effects on learning in later life of half a century of higher-education expansion. Understanding inequality requires paying attention to the whole life-course. Between people born in 1936 and in 1970, women moved from being behind men in later life to being ahead. Social class inequality widened with age for people born in 1936, but narrowed with age for those born in 1970. Introduction The influence of educational courses taken by adults on the social distribution of educational opportunity has long been ambiguous
