Synopses & Reviews
The past fifteen years have seen longterm care policies in the countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) undergo substantial transformations, either through major policy reforms or through accumulated minor policy changes. This book brings together data from many OECD countries to compare key changes in national policies, examine the successes or failures of new approaches, and offer policy strategies for the future. Drawing on fifteen years of evidence and bringing together contributors from a number of perspectives throughout the OECD, it will be essential for those studying—or making—policy.
Review
“A most welcome collection that provides a much-needed and up-to-date orientation on the open frontiers of class across the life course.”
Review
“An exciting collection which successfully sets out to re-invigorate the consideration of class in gerontology. The editors have done a fantastic job of bringing the diverse positions adopted by the contributors into dialogue with each other.”
Review
“This fascinating edited volume brings together top-notch scholars who each cast a unique lens on a rarely studied topic. A must-read for students of social gerontology, stratification, and inequalities.”
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“This eloquent, thought-provoking collection will be essential reading for scholars of ageing and all with an interest in policy linked to ageing.”
Review
“Anyone interested in social gerontology will want this short edited volume on their bookshelves—for the references and for the substantive content of the chapters.”
Synopsis
Cultures of Aging examines age and aging in terms of the key preoccupations of contemporary sociology -- citizenship, the body and the self. The book provides a platform for a new social gerontology that sees aging as central to our understanding of social change. It examines social, cultural and political changes in Europe and North America and the need to move the study of aging from social policy towards some of the key issues in contemporary social science.
Synopsis
For undergraduate courses in sociology and psychology which examine ageing adulthood. This book focuses on the dramatic changes to the nature of post-retirement life experienced by people at the end of the twentieth century. It examines age and ageing in terms of the key preoccupations of contemporary sociology - citizenship, the body and the self. The book provides a platform for a new social gerontology that sees ageing as central to our understanding of social change. It examines social, cultural and political changes in Europe and North America to address the need for a text that moves the study of ageing from social policy towards the mainstream of social science.
Synopsis
Since the 1990s, long-term care policies have undergone significant transformations across OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries. For some, these changes have responded to the introduction of major individual policy reforms, while in others transformations have come about through the accumulation of smaller policy changes. This book examines changes in long-term care systems occurring in OECD countries, discusses and compares key changes in national policies, examines the main successes and failures of recent reforms, and suggests possible policy strategies for the future.
Synopsis
Social Class in Later Life collects the latest research on class, culture, and agingexploring the relationship between them and offering a critical guide to the ways in which age and class relations intersect with each other. Bringing together a range of international scholars, Marvin Formosa and Paul Higgs develop a sophisticated, analytical, and empirical understanding of late-life class dynamics. It will be of interest to students and researchers examining the implications of global aging as well as scholars concerned with the development of a more critical and engaged gerontology.
About the Author
Cristiano Gori is visiting senior fellow in the Personal Social Services Research Unit at the London School of Economics and Political Science and professor of social policy at the Catholic University in Milan.Jose-Luis Fernandez is deputy director and principal research fellow in the Personal Social Services Research Unit at the London School of Economics and Political Science and cochair of the International Long-Term Care Policy Network.Raphael Wittenberg is a principal research fellow in the Personal Social Services Research Unit at the London School of Economics and Political Science and deputy director of the Centre for Health Service Economics and Organisation at the University of Oxford.
Table of Contents
Introduction
~ Marvin Formosa and Paul Higgs
Social class structures and social mobility: the background context
~ Wendy Bottero
Ageing and class in a globalised world
~ Chris Phillipson
Measuring social class in later life
~ Alexandra Lopes
Social class, age and identity in later life
~ Martin Hyde and Ian Rees Jones
Class, pensions and old-age security
~ Elizangela Storelli and John Williamson
Class and health inequalities in later life
~ Ian Rees Jones and Paul Higgs
Class, care and caring
~ Christina Victor
Social work, class and later life
~ Trish Hafford-Letchfield
The changing significance of social class in later life
~ Marvin Formosa and Paul Higgs