This paper discusses filial norms, personal preferences for care, and policy opinions about the proper role of the family and the welfare state in elder care, by drawing from a comparative study of urban populations in Norway, England, Germany, Spain and Israel. Support for filial norms has a north-south dimension in Europe, and is highest in Spain and Israel and lowest – but still substantial – in Norway, England and Germany. National differences in preferences and policy opinions are more substantial, and more or less congruent with national family and social policy traditions. Filial solidarity is, however, not incompatible with generous welfare state arrangements, nor do filial obligations necessarily imply that the family is seen as the ‘natural’ care provider. In fact, many in the countries with the highest scores for filial responsibility still find the welfare state to be the main source of care provision. Normative familism is correlated with expressed familism in individuals' preferences and in policy opinions, but the correlations are weak, implying that while filial solidarity may be resilient, as circumstances alter its expressions change.

Social commentators in countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States are beginning to recognise that encouraging older adults' use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) is essential for the creation of bona fide information societies. To date, however, few studies have examined in detail older adults' access to and use of ICTs. This important aspect of the interaction between population ageing and societal change is more complex than the published literature's portrayal of a dichotomy between ‘successful users’ and ‘unsuccessful non-users’. The paper examines the extent and nature of ICT access and use by older adults in their everyday lives. Information was collected from a sub-sample of 352 adults aged 60 or more years taken from a large household survey of ICT use in England and Wales among 1,001 people. The findings suggest that using a computer is not only a minority activity amongst older adults but also highly stratified by gender, age, marital status and educational background. Conversely, non-use of computers can be attributed to their low relevance and ‘relative advantage’ to older people. The paper concludes by considering how political and academic assumptions about older people and ICTs might be refocused, away from trying to ‘change’ older adults, and towards involving them in changing ICT.

This paper uses work and caring history information from the British Family and Working Lives Survey (1994/5) to examine the provision of family care and its impact upon the employment and the subsequent state and private pension entitlement among mid-life men and women. Combining paid employment with care-giving was not an option for a significant minority of women with caring responsibilities in mid-life. One-in-five mid-life women who have ever had caring responsibilities reported that, upon starting caring, they stopped work altogether, and another one-in-five reported that they worked fewer hours, earned less money or could only work restricted hours. Fewer men and women who stopped work as a result of caring were members of an occupational pension scheme than other groups; and they had accumulated fewer years of contributions than their counterparts who continued working, with direct implications for their level of pension income in later life. The extension of employers' schemes to help workers balance paid work and family responsibilities would facilitate more carers remaining in the labour market, as would an explicit carers' dimension within the new ‘Working Tax Credit’. Consideration should also be given to extending credits for second tier pensions to working carers who provide care for over 16 hours a week and who earn below the lower earnings limit. This will ensure that carers who juggle low paid work and care are not penalised for working, and that their unpaid contribution to society is recognised.

This paper reports the findings of research funded by The Nuffield Foundation on older people paying the full cost of their long-term residential or nursing home care in England. The research had three stages; a national postal survey directed at the senior finance officer in social services departments, follow-up telephone interviews with a sample of them, and interviews in five case study areas. Those interviewed included social services staff (including a legal adviser), care home providers, self-funding residents and relatives. These self-funding residents were commonly relatively physically independent on admission to the care home. Despite central government directives that needs assessments should be available regardless of a person's means, it is a common policy to encourage older people in this situation to admit themselves directly to care homes without a needs assessment. Wide variation was found in local authority practice in respect to being prepared to make a contract with a care-home provider for older people able to meet the full costs of care.

This paper examines the impact of childhood and adulthood socio-economic status (SES) on personal network characteristics in later life. Data are derived from 2,285 married older adults (born between 1903 and 1937) who participated in face-to-face interviews for the Dutch survey on ‘Living arrangements and social networks of older adults’ conducted in 1992. Childhood and adulthood SES were indicated by the father's and own level of education and occupation. Multivariate analyses showed that SES in adulthood has more impact on network features in old age than father's SES. People with low lifetime SES or with downward SES mobility had small networks, low instrumental and emotional support from non-kin, but high instrumental support from kin, when compared with the upwardly mobile or those with high lifetime SES. The level of education was a better indicator of network differences than occupational prestige. It is concluded that obtaining a high SES during life pays off in terms of having more supportive non-kin relationships in old age. The small networks and less supportive non-kin relationships of low-status older adults make them more vulnerable to situations in which kin are unavailable or less willing to provide support. This study underscores the distinction between types of support and types of relationships in the SES–network association. Further research on the social pathways of socio-economic inequality in health and wellbeing should take these distinctions into account.

As the population ages and more people are living alone, social isolation amongst older people is emerging as one of the major issues facing the industrialised world because of the adverse impact it can have on health and wellbeing. This article reviews the empirical literature published over the last 20 years on the effectiveness of interventions that target social isolation amongst older people. The results reveal that although numerous such interventions have been implemented worldwide, there is very little evidence to show that they work. It is concluded that future intervention programmes aimed at reducing social isolation should have evaluation built into them at inception, and that the results of the evaluation studies, whether positive or negative, should be widely disseminated. Where possible, as a cost-effective measure, pilot or demonstration projects should precede these interventions. Some key elements of successful interventions to counter social isolation amongst older people are presented.

As part of a suite of policy documents on older people's issues, the ‘New Labour’ British government has published a joint housing and health strategy, Quality and Choice for Older People's Housing. In this they attempt to map out the problems facing older people. The strategy also suggests that among the solutions there should be more opportunities for older people to make choices and for their deeper involvement in housing matters. This paper sketches the background to this strategy and reviews the literature to determine whether there is a foundation of dialogue with older people on housing issues. While there have been increasing efforts to build socially inclusive processes, particularly in the major ‘regeneration’ programmes, it is still the case that older people are usually excluded. The core of the paper is a case study from the Better Government for Older People programme which explored the process by which older people worked alongside professionals to remodel a local authority dwelling. An analysis of the dialogue provides a window onto the self conceptions of professionals. Older people gained as individuals and as a group from the housing project, and were able to develop collective influence through a representation role. Learning by the local authority was more incremental. The paper ends with a discussion of the broader lessons for service providers.

The recent debate in the United States' gerontological literature on ‘anti-ageing medicine’ has profound significance for the discipline of gerontology. This review article discusses three major contributions to the debate and assesses the meaning of the wider debate for gerontology. A paper by Olshansky, Hayflick and Carnes, published in the Scientific American in May 2002, aimed at a popular science readership rather than gerontologists and had an overtly campaigning purpose. Among the many responses to the paper, that by Robert H. Binstock in The Gerontologist in February 2003 places the concerns expressed by Olshansky et al. in an historical context, and draws out its significance for gerontology as a discipline. Binstock believes that the central issue is legitimacy. What characteristics distinguish scientific endeavour that seeks an understanding of the fundamental biology of human ageing from quackery and pseudo-science? Does the ‘anti-ageing movement’ have a place in legitimate science? Also reviewed is a special issue of Generations, the journal of the American Society on Aging, on ‘Anti-Aging: Are You For It Or Against It?’. Amongst other distinguished contributions, the leading moral philosopher of old age, Harry Moody, explores key issues in ‘Who's afraid of life extension?’ The debate represented by these papers is significant not only for bio-medical but also social gerontology and for our understanding of the cultural position of old age in modern society.