Governments are encouraging later-life working and state pension ages are being raised. There is also a growing debate on intergenerational equity and on ageism/age discrimination. John Macnicol, one of Europe's leading academic analysts of old age and ageing, examines the effect of neoliberalism on the recent ageing and social policy agenda in the UK and the USA. He argues that the demographic and economic impulses behind recent policy changes are in fact less important than the effect of neoliberalism as an ideology, which has caused certain key problems to be defined in a particular way. The book outlines past theories of old age and examines pensions reform, the debate on life expectancy gains, the causes of retirement, the idea of intergenerational equity, the current debate on ageism/age discrimination and the likely human consequences of raising state pension ages.
John Macnicol is Visiting Professor in Social Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He has published extensively on social policy, particularly the history of social policy. His previous books include Age Discrimination: An Historical and Contemporary Analysis (Cambridge, 2006), Paying for the Old: Old Age and Social Welfare Provision (edited, 2000) and The Politics of Retirement in Britain, 1878-1948 (Cambridge, 1998).
1. The changing meanings of old age; 2. Old age in the past; 3. Pensions reform, from the 1990s onwards; 4. Demography as destiny?; 5. Retirement; 6. Intergenerational equity; 7. Towards age equality?; 8. Conclusion.
'A searching analysis of the impact of neo-liberal policies on the lives of older people. John Macnicol draws together a wealth of research in challenging current perspectives on work and retirement. A powerful and authoritative study.' Chris Phillipson, University of Manchester