Afterword: Austerity policies and new forms of solidarity

Summary

Introduction

The financial crisis of 2008 and the economic recession that followed transformed much of the landscape around which debates on ageing were traditionally built. Yet, beyond acknowledging that a politics and economics of austerity would present issues for older people, research and analysis has been limited. Indeed, there has been something of a ‘structural lag’ (to use Riley and Riley's famous phrase [1994]) between the onset of crisis and the recognition that the basis for developing policies for older people has undergone irrevocable change. In this context, the chapters in Ageing through austerity are to be especially welcomed as a major step forward in analysing the implications of what has been a profound change affecting older people and their families and the communities of which they are a part. In this Afterword, I will: first, highlight important elements of the debate about austerity, drawing on some of the illustrations provided in the book; second, develop a framework for understanding the impact of austerity politics on older people and related groups; and, third, consider the way forward for critical gerontology given some of the findings highlighted in the various chapters in this book.

Austerity and ageing: economic change and social consequences

A key conclusion from the various chapters in this book is the highly contradictory impact of austerity on public policies targeted at older people. On the one hand, policies developed through the 1990s and 2000s focused on the need to promote positive ageing and the dignity of older people. On the other hand, the impact of cuts has been to weaken communities, increase inequalities and reduce the range of

services available to support people in their own homes. Moreover, a further contradiction is that of a society increasingly aware of ageing as a demographic reality (see Chapter Two) but in an environment driven by an austerity economics that has steadily undermined the infrastructure – local as well as national – around which effective supports for older people are built and maintained.

Reflecting the aforementioned, a number of issues emerge from the chapters and research studies discussed in this book.