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Generational conflict, consumption and the ageing welfare state in the United Kingdom

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 August 2010

PAUL HIGGS  and
CHRIS GILLEARD
PAUL HIGGS*
Affiliation:
Division of Research Strategy, University College London, UK.
CHRIS GILLEARD
Affiliation:
Division of Research Strategy, University College London, UK.
*
Address for correspondence: Paul Higgs, Division of Research Strategy, University College London, Charles Bell House, 67–73 Riding House Street, London W1W 7EY, UK. E-mail: p.higgs@ucl.ac.uk
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Abstract

The British welfare state is over 60 years old. Those who were born, grew up and who are now growing old within its ambit are a distinctive generation. They have enjoyed healthier childhoods with better education than previous populations living in Britain. That they have done well under the welfare state is accepted, but some critics have argued that these advantages are at the expense of younger cohorts. The very success of this ‘welfare generation’ is perceived as undermining the future viability of the welfare state, and some argue that the current levels of income and wealth enjoyed by older cohorts can only be sustained by cutbacks in entitlements for younger cohorts. This will lead to a growing ‘generational fracture’ over welfare policy. This paper challenges this position, arguing that both younger and older groups find themselves working out their circumstances in conditions determined more by the contingencies of the market than by social policy.

Keywords

welfare stategenerational conflictconsumercontingency
Type
Forum
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 30 , Issue 8 , November 2010 , pp. 1439 - 1451
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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