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5 - Ageing and social class: towards a dynamic approach to class inequalities in old age

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2011

Alexandra Lopes
Affiliation:
University of Porto
Malcolm Sargeant
Affiliation:
Middlesex University, London
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Summary

Introduction

The inclusion of social class based inequalities in a book about diversity and discrimination in old age is certainly no surprise. Social class understood as a system of social ranking and unbalanced distribution of opportunities, resources, prestige and power among social groups and among individuals is a building block of inequalities not only in old age but all along the life course. It is also a building block of sociological analysis and has been extensively explored in all corners of the world by a diversity of scholars interested in understanding the foundations of social organisation and social behaviour.

Type
Chapter
Information
Age Discrimination and Diversity
Multiple Discrimination from an Age Perspective
, pp. 89 - 110
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011

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