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Demographic Statistics and Old Age Ideology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2008

W. R. Bytheway
W. R. Bytheway
Affiliation:
Senior Research Fellow, Medical Sociology Research Centre, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University College, Swansea SA2 8PP, Wales.
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Abstract

Introductory descriptions of the contemporary ‘old age phenomenon’ tend to draw heavily upon demographic statistics. An analysis of such descriptions in popular books on retirement show that the ways in which these are presented and interpreted reflect a certain set of beliefs concerning the concept of old age. Critical to this ideology is the dissociation of old age and death. Together with indicators of the unprecedented expansion of old age, this creates an image of old age that has doubtful validity.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 1 , Issue 3 , November 1981 , pp. 347 - 364
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

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References

NOTES

1 Department of Health and Social Security, Growing Older, HMSO, London, 1981.Google Scholar

2 Shakespeare, P., A Comparison of the Contents of Literature on Retirement, Occasional Paper No. 16, University College, Swansea, 1978.Google Scholar

3 It is not necessary to include here a summarized introduction to the sociology of knowledge, but sceptics who suspect that sociology has little to offer to our under standing of how seemingly indisputable objective knowledge is created, are referred to Bloor's recent study of mathematical knowledge. Bloor, D. C., Knowledge and Social Imagery, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1976.Google Scholar

4 McErlean, J. P., Pre-retirement and Retirement, J. P. McErlean, Enfield, 1969.Google Scholar

5 Loving, W., A Lively Retirement, Queen Anne Press, London, 1974.Google Scholar

6 Loving, W., How to plan your retirement, Midland Bank Trust Company Limited, London, 1975.Google Scholar

7 The statistic ‘a tiny percentage’ in sentence C57 is ignored, since it refers to access to pre-retirement courses: a topic that is not related to the predominant thesis.

8 Kemp, F. and Buttle, B., Looking Ahead, Continua Publications Ltd. for the Pre-Retirement Association, London, 1977.Google Scholar

9 Loshak, D., Guide to Retirement, Daily Telegraph, London, 1978.Google Scholar