Introduction: Capitalism and the Elderly

Abstract

This book has been written in a period of crisis for elderly people. Health and social services are being substantially reduced; questions are being raised about the ability of society fully to protect pensioners against price increases; older workers are urged to retire as soon as possible as a means of reducing high unemployment amongst young people. At the same time, a tremendous expansion is taking place in the number of people aged 60 and over, a development which will require significant increases in resources to the welfare state, if health and living standards are to be maintained. The broad dimensions of these demographic changes are well understood, and are not the object of detailed scrutiny in this book. Instead, it aims first to develop a critical account of the position of elderly people in a capitalist society, and second to analyse the responses of the state to the emergence of retirement.