Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T12:10:08.580Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Ageing, corporeality and social divisions in later life

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 June 2016

CHRIS GILLEARD  and
PAUL HIGGS
CHRIS GILLEARD
Affiliation:
Faculty of Brain Sciences, University College London, UK.
PAUL HIGGS*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Brain Sciences, University College London, UK.
*
Address for correspondence: Paul Higgs, Division of Psychiatry, Faculty of Brain Sciences, UCL, Maple House, 149 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 7NF, UK E-mail: p.higgs@ucl.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper concerns the social divisions of later life. Although research in this field has focused on class, gender and, more recently, sexuality as sources of division in later life, the division between the fit and the frail has tended to be ignored or viewed as an outcome of these other divisions. This paper challenges this assumption, arguing that corporeality constitutes a major social division in later life. This in many ways prefigures a return to the 19th-century categorisation of those ‘impotent through age’, whose position was among the most abject in society. Their ‘impotence’ was framed by an inability to engage in paid labour. Improved living standards during and after working life saw age's impotence fade in significance and in the immediate post-war era, social concern turned towards the relative poverty of pensioners. Subsequent demographic ageing and the expanding cultures of the third age have undermined the homogeneity of retirement. Frailty has become a major source of social division, separating those who are merely older from those who are too old. This division excludes the ‘unsuccessfully’ aged from utilising the widening range of material and social goods that characterise the third age. It is this social divide rather than those of past occupation or income that is becoming a more salient line of fracture in later life.

Keywords

corporealitysocial divisionssocial exclusion
Type
Articles
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 37 , Issue 8 , September 2017 , pp. 1681 - 1702
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adams, P., Hurd, M. D., McFadden, D., Merrill, A., and Ribeiro, T. 2003. Healthy, wealthy, and wise? Tests for direct causal paths between health and socioeconomic status. Journal of Econometrics, 112, 1, 3–56.Google Scholar
Alcock, P. 2008. Poverty and social exclusion, in Ridge, T. and Wright, S. (eds), Understanding Inequality, Poverty and Wealth: policies and prospects, Policy Press, Bristol, 37–60.Google Scholar
Atkinson, A. B., Cantillon, B., Marlier, E. and Nolan, B. 2002. Social Indicators: The EU and Social Inclusion. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Atkinson, A. B. 2009. The EU and social inclusion: Facing the challenges. Policy Press, Bristol.Google Scholar
Barnes, M., Blom, A., Cox, K., Lessof, C. and Walker, A. 2006. The Social Exclusion of Older People: Evidence from the First Wave of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing: Final Report. National Centre for Social Research, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK. Available online at http://www.ifs.org.uk/docs/odpm_social_exclusion.pdf [Accessed 1 June 2015].Google Scholar
Beck, U., Bonss, W. and Lau, C. 2003. The theory of reflexive modernisation: problematic, hypotheses and research programme. Theory, Culture and Society, 20, 2, 1–33.Google Scholar
Bennett, T., Savage, M., Silva, E. B., Warde, A., Gayo-Cal, M. & Wright, D. 2009. Culture, Class, Distinction. Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Berlau, D. J., Corrada, M. M. and Kawas, C. 2009. The prevalence of disability in the oldest-old is high and continues to increase with age: findings from the 90+ Study. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 24, 11, 1217–25.Google Scholar
Blane, D. 1999. The life course, the social gradient, and health. In Marmot, M. and Wilkinson, R. G. (eds), Social Determinants of Health. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 64–80.Google Scholar
Booth, C. 1887. The inhabitants of Tower Hamlets (School Board Division), their conditions and occupations. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, 50, 2, 326–401.Google Scholar
Braithwaite, J. and Mont, D. 2008. Disability and poverty: a survey of World Bank poverty assessments and implications. SP Discussion Paper 0805, World Bank, Washington DC.Google Scholar
Brault, M. W. 2012. Americans with disabilities: 2010. Current Population Reports, P70–131, US Census Bureau, Washington DC.Google Scholar
Brayne, C., Ince, P. G., Keage, H. A., McKeith, I. G., Matthews, F. E., Polvikoski, T. and Sulkava, R. 2010. Education, the brain and dementia: neuroprotection or compensation? Brain, 133, 8, 2210–6.Google Scholar
Brown, R. L. and Prus, S. G. 2006. Income inequality over the later-life course: a comparative analysis of seven OECD countries. Annals of Actuarial Science, 102, 307–17.Google Scholar
Byrne, D. 2005. Social Exclusion. Second edition, Open University Press, Maidenhead, UK.Google Scholar
Cantegreil-Kallen, I. and Pin, S. 2012. Fear of Alzheimer's disease in the French population: impact of age and proximity to the disease. International Psychogeriatrics, 24, 1, 108–116.Google Scholar
Chatterji, S., Byles, J., Cutler, D., Seeman, T. and Verdes, E. 2015. Health, functioning, and disability in older adults – present status and future implications. The Lancet, 385, 9967, 563–75.Google Scholar
Costa, D. L. 2000. Understanding the twentieth-century decline in chronic conditions among older men. Demography, 37, 1, 53–72.Google Scholar
Cronin, A. 2005. Sexuality in Gerontology: A heteronormative presence, a queer absence, in Daatland, S. O. and Biggs, S. (eds) Ageing and Diversity : Multiple pathways and cultural migrations, Policy Press, Bristol, 107–122.Google Scholar
Crystal, S. and Shea, D. 1990. Cumulative advantage, cumulative disadvantage, and inequality among elderly people. The Gerontologist, 30, 4, 437–43.Google Scholar
Cullinan, J., Gannon, B. and O'Shea, E. 2013. The welfare implications of disability for older people in Ireland. European Journal of Health Economics, 14, 2, 171–83.Google Scholar
Cutler, D. 2005. Commentary on ‘Consequences and predictors of new health events’. In Wise, D. (ed.), Analyses in the Economics of Aging. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 237–40.Google Scholar
Devine, F., Savage, M., Scott, J., and Crompton, R. 2005. Rethinking Class: Cultures, Identities and Lifestyles. Palgrave Macmillan, London.Google Scholar
Estes, C. 1999. Critical gerontology and the new political economy of aging. In Minkler, M. and Estes, C. (eds), Critical Gerontology: Perspectives from Political and Moral Economy. Baywood, Amityville, New York, 17–35.Google Scholar
Ethgen, O., Gillain, D., Gillet, P., Gosset, C., Jousten, A., and Reginster, J. Y. 2004. Age-and sex-stratified prevalence of physical disabilities and handicap in the general population. Aging Clinical and Experimental Research, 16, 5, 389–397.Google Scholar
Eurostat (2015) People at risk of poverty or social exclusion by age and sex. European Commission, Brussels (http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/income-and-living-conditions/data/database; accessed 7th June 2015 and again 5th May 2016).Google Scholar
Fairfield, L. 1943. Care of the chronic sick. The Lancet, ii, 455–7.Google Scholar
Finkelstein, A., Luttmer, E. F. and Notowidigdo, M. J. 2013. What good is wealth without health? The effect of health on the marginal utility of consumption. Journal of the European Economic Association, 11, 1, 221–58.Google Scholar
Formosa, M. and Higgs, P. 2015. Introduction. In Formosa, M. and Higgs, P. (eds), Social Class in Later Life, Policy Press, Bristol, UK, 1–14.Google Scholar
Fried, L. P., Ferrucci, L., Darer, J., Williamson, J. D., & Anderson, G. 2004. Untangling the concepts of disability, frailty, and comorbidity: implications for improved targeting and care. The Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 59, 3, M255–M263.Google Scholar
Furman, F. K. 1997. Facing the Mirror: Older Women and Beauty Shop Culture. Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Geronimus, A. T, Hicken, M., Keene, D. and Bound, J. 2006. ‘Weathering’ and age patterns of allostatic load scores. American Journal of Public Health, 96, 5, 826–33.Google Scholar
Gilleard, C. and Higgs, P. 2005. Contexts of Ageing: Class, Cohort and Community. Polity, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Gilleard, C. and Higgs, P. 2011 a. Aging, abjection and embodiment in the Fourth Age. Journal of Aging Studies, 25, 2, 135–42.Google Scholar
Gilleard, C. and Higgs, P. 2011 b. Frailty, disability and old age: a re-appraisal. Health 15, 5, 475–90.Google Scholar
Gilleard, C. and Higgs, P. 2013. Ageing, Corporeality and Embodiment. Anthem Press, London.Google Scholar
Ginn, J. 2008. Poverty and financial inequality in later life. In Ridge, T. and Wright, S. (eds), Understanding Inequality, Poverty and Wealth: Policies and Prospects. Policy Press, Bristol, UK, 205–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goudswaard, K., van Vliet, O., Been, J. and Caminada, K. 2012. Pensions and income inequality in old age. DICE Report, 104, 21.Google Scholar
Hearn, J. and Wray, S. 2015. Gender: implications of a contested area. In Twigg, J. and Martin, W. (eds), Routledge Handbook of Cultural Gerontology. Routledge, London, 201–9.Google Scholar
Higgs, P. and Gilleard, C. 2015. Rethinking Old Age: Theorising the fourth age. Palgrave Macmillan, London.Google Scholar
Hokayem, C. and Heggeness, M. L. 2014. Living in near poverty in the United States: 1966–2012. Current Population Reports, P60-248, US Census Bureau, Washington DC.Google Scholar
Hörder, H., Frändin, K. and Larsson, M. 2013. Self-respect through ability to keep fear of frailty at a distance: successful ageing from the perspective of community-dwelling older people. International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-Being, 8: 20194 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/qhw.v8i0.20194.Google Scholar
House of Commons Parliamentary Papers 1900 Cd. 292. Twenty-ninth Annual Report of the Local Government Board, 1899–1900. Available online at http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:hcpp&rft_dat=xri:hcpp:fulltext:1900-078240) [Accessed 10 April 2015].Google Scholar
Hurd Clarke, L. 2011. Facing Age. Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, Maryland.Google Scholar
Jehoel-Gijsbers, G. and Vrooman, C. 2008. Social Exclusion of the Elderly: A Comparative Study of EU Member States. ENEPRI (European Network of Economic Policy Research Institutes) Research Report 57, Centre for European Policy Studies, Brussels. Available online at http://www.ceps.eu/publications/social-exclusion-elderly-comparative-study-eu-member-states [Accessed 25 May 2015].Google Scholar
Jones, I. R. and Higgs, P. 2015. Class and health inequalities in later life. In Formosa, M. and Higgs, P. (eds), Social Class in Later Life: Power, Identity and Lifestyle. Policy Press, Bristol, UK.Google Scholar
Jones, I. R., Hyde, M., Victor, C., Wiggins, D., Gilleard, C. and Higgs, P. 2008. Ageing in a Consumer Society: From Passive to Active Consumption in Britain. Policy Press, Bristol, UK.Google Scholar
Keating, N. and Scharf, T. 2012. Revisiting social exclusion of older adults. In Scharf, T. and Keating, N. (eds), From Exclusion to Inclusion in Old Age: A Global Challenge. Policy Press, Bristol, UK, 163–70.Google Scholar
Kennedy, J. and Minkler, M. 1999. Disability theory and public policy: implications for critical gerontology. In Minkler, M. and Estes, C. L. (eds), Critical Gerontology: Perspectives from Political and Moral Economy. Baywood, Amityville, New York, 91–108.Google Scholar
Kessler, E. M., Tempel, J. and Wahl, H. W. 2014. Concerns about one's aging: The role of work context and psychological distress. GeroPsych: The Journal of Gerontopsychology and Geriatric Psychiatry, 27, 2, 81.Google Scholar
Knowles, S. and Owen, P. D. 1995. Health capital and cross-country variation in income per capita in the Mankiw-Romer-Weil model. Economics Letters, 48, 1, 99–106.Google Scholar
Leicester, A., O'Dea, C. and Oldfield, Z. 2009. The expenditure experience of older households. Commentary C111, Institute for Fiscal Studies, London.Google Scholar
Levitas, R. 1996. The concept of social exclusion and the new ‘Durkheimian’ hegemony. Critical Social Policy, 46, 5–20.Google Scholar
Levitas, R. 2005. The Inclusive Society? Social Exclusion and New Labour. Second edition, Palgrave Macmillan, London.Google Scholar
Mackenbach, J. P. 2012. The persistence of health inequalities in modern welfare states: the explanation of a paradox. Social Science & Medicine, 75, 4, 761–9.Google Scholar
Matthews, K., Demakakos, P., Nazroo, J. and Shankar, A. 2014. The evolution of lifestyles in older age in England. In Banks, J., Nazroo, J. and Steptoe, A. (eds), The Dynamics of Ageing: Evidence from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, 2002–2012 (Wave 6). Institute for Fiscal Studies, London, 51–93, p. 83.Google Scholar
McDonald, S. and Roberts, J. 2002. Growth and multiple forms of human capital in an augmented Solow model: a panel data investigation. Economics Letters, 74, 2, 271–6.Google Scholar
McKee, K. J. and Gott, M. 2002. Shame and the ageing body. In Gilbert, P. and Miles, J. (eds), Body Shame: Conceptualisation, Research, and Treatment. Routledge, London, 75–89.Google Scholar
McNeil, J. M. 2001. Americans with disabilities. Household Economic Studies, P-70 73, US Department of Commerce and Bureau of Census, Washington DC.Google Scholar
Meer, J., Miller, D. L. and Rosen, H. S. 2003. Exploring the health–wealth nexus. Journal of Health Economics, 22, 5, 713–30.Google Scholar
Meyer, B. D. and Sullivan, J. X. 2007. Consumption and income poverty for those 65 and over. Harris School Working Paper Series 07.21, Harris School of Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago, Chicago.Google Scholar
Minkler, M., Fuller-Thomson, E. and Guralnik, J. M. 2006. Gradient of disability across the socioeconomic spectrum in the United States. New England Journal of Medicine, 355, 7, 695–703.Google Scholar
Mirowsky, J. and Ross, C. E. 2008. Education and self-rated health: cumulative advantage and its rising importance. Research on Aging, 30, 1, 93–122.Google Scholar
Montez, J. K., Hummer, R. A., Hayward, M. D., Woo, H. and Rogers, R. G. 2011. Trends in the educational gradient of US adult mortality from 1986 through 2006 by race, gender, and age group. Research on Aging, 33, 2, 145–71.Google Scholar
O'Rand, A. M. 1995. The cumulative stratification the life course. In Binstock, R. and George, L. K. (eds), Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences. Fourth edition, Academic Press, San Diego, California, 188–207.Google Scholar
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) 2007. Pensions at a Glance. OECD, Paris.Google Scholar
Palmer, M. 2011. Disability and poverty: a conceptual review. Journal of Disability Policy Studies, 21, 4, 210–8.Google Scholar
Peeters, H., Debels, A. and Verpoorten, R. 2013. Excluding institutionalized elderly from surveys: consequences for income and poverty statistics. Social Indicators Research, 110, 2, 751–69.Google Scholar
Phillipson, C. 1982. Capitalism and the Construction of Old Age. Macmillan, London.Google Scholar
Phillipson, C. 2011. Towards a new sociology of ageing: from structured dependency to critical gerontology. In Walker, A., Sinfield, A. and Walker, C. (eds), Fighting Poverty, Inequality and Injustice: A Manifesto Inspired by Peter Townsend. Policy Press, Bristol, UK, 193–222.Google Scholar
Proctor, B. D. and Dalaker, J. 2002. Poverty in the United States: 2001. Current Population Reports P60-219, Government Printing Office, Washington DC.Google Scholar
Prus, S. G. 2007. Age, SES, and health: a population level analysis of health inequalities over the lifecourse. Sociology of Health & Illness, 29, 2, 275–96.Google Scholar
Puts, M. T. E., Shekary, N., Widdershoven, G., Heldens, J. and Deeg, D. J. H. 2009. The meaning of frailty according to Dutch older frail and non-frail persons. Journal of Aging Studies, 23, 4, 258–66.Google Scholar
Rank, M. R. and Hirschl, T. A. 2001. Rags or riches? Estimating the probabilities of poverty and affluence across the adult American life span. Social Science Quarterly, 82, 4, 651–69.Google Scholar
Read, S., Grundy, E. and Foverskova, E. 2016. Socio-economic position and subjective health and well-being among older people in Europe: a systematic narrative review. Aging & Mental Health, 20, 5, 529–42.Google Scholar
Robertson, T., Batty, G. D., Der, G., Fenton, C., Shiels, P. G. and Benzeval, M. 2012. Is socioeconomic status associated with biological aging as measured by telomere length? Epidemiologic Reviews, 35, 1, 98–111.Google Scholar
Roebuck, J. 1979. When does ‘old age’ begin? The evolution of the English definition. Journal of Social History, 12, 3, 416–28.Google Scholar
Rowntree, B. S. 1901. Poverty: A Study in Town Life. Longmans, London.Google Scholar
Schafer, M. H. 2016. Health as status? Network relations and social structure in an American retirement community. Ageing & Society, 36, 1, 79–105.Google Scholar
Scharf, T. 2015. Between inclusion and exclusion in later life. In Walsh, K., Carney, G. and Ní Léime, Á. (eds), Ageing Through Austerity: Critical Perspectives from Ireland. Policy Press, Bristol, UK, 113–29.Google Scholar
Scherger, S., Nazroo, J. and Higgs, P. 2011. Leisure activities and retirement: do structures of inequality change during old age? Ageing & Society, 31, 1, 146–72.Google Scholar
Sen, A. 1983. Poor, relatively speaking, Oxford Economic Papers, 35, 2, 153–69.Google Scholar
Silver, H. 1994. Social exclusion and social solidarity: three paradigms. International Labour Review, 133, 5/6, 531–78.Google Scholar
Smeeding, T. M., Torrey, B. B. and Rein, M. 1987. Patterns of Income and Poverty: The Economic Status of the Young and the Old in Eight Countries. CEPS/INSTEAD, Luxembourg.Google Scholar
Smith, J. 2005. Consequences and predictors of new health events. In Wise, J. (ed.), Analyses in the Economics of Aging. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 213–40.Google Scholar
Smith, J. P. and Kington, R. 1997. Demographic and economic correlates of health in old age. Demography, 34, 1, 159–70.Google Scholar
Taylor-Gooby, P. 2002. The silver age of the welfare state: perspectives on resilience. Journal of Social Policy, 31, 4, 597–621.Google Scholar
Townsend, P. 1979. Poverty in the United Kingdom. Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, UK.Google Scholar
Townsend, P. 1981. The structured dependency of the elderly: a creation of social policy in the twentieth century. Ageing & Society, 1, 1, 5–28.Google Scholar
Walker, A. 1981. Towards a political economy of old age. Ageing and Society, 1, 1, 73–94.Google Scholar
Walker, A. 2009. Why is ageing so unequal? In Cann, P. and Dean, M. (eds), Unequal Ageing: The Untold Story of Exclusion in Old Age. Policy Press, Bristol, UK, 141–58.Google Scholar
Warburton, J., Ng, S. H. and Shardlow, S. M. 2013. Social inclusion in an ageing world: introduction to the special issue. Ageing & Society, 33, 1, 1–15.Google Scholar
Warmoth, K., Lang, I. A., Phoenix, C., Abraham, C., Andrew, M. K., Hubbard, R. E. and Tarrant, M. 2015. ‘Thinking you're old and frail’: a qualitative study of frailty in older adults. Ageing & Society. Published online: 09 June 2015, doi: 10.1017/S0144686X1500046X.Google Scholar
Wentworth, S. G. and Pattison, D. 2001–2. Income growth and future poverty rates of the aged. Social Security Bulletin, 64, 3, 23–37.Google Scholar
Zaidi, A. and Burchardt, T. 2005. Comparing incomes when needs differ: equivalization for the extra costs of disability. Review of Income and Wealth, 51, 89–114.Google Scholar