First published in Great Britain in 2016 by
Policy Press University of Bristol 1-9 Old Park Hill Bristol BS2 8BB UK Tel +44 (0)117 954 5940 e-mail
North American office: Policy Press c/o The University of Chicago Press 1427 East 60th Street Chicago, IL 60637, USA t: +1 773 702 7700 f: +1 773-702-9756 e:
Policy Press 2016
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN 978-1-4473-2227-6 hardcover
ISBN 978-1-4473-2231-3 ePub
ISBN 978-1-4473-2232-0 Mobi
The right of Martin Hyde and Paul Higgs to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved: no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission of Policy Press.
The statements and opinions contained within this publication are solely those of the authors and not of the University of Bristol or Policy Press. The University of Bristol and Policy Press disclaim responsibility for any injury to persons or property resulting from any material published in this publication.
Policy Press works to counter discrimination on grounds of gender, race, disability, age and sexuality.
Cover design by Policy Press
Front cover image: Istock
Readers Guide
This book has been optimised for PDA.
Tables may have been presented to accommodate this devices limitations.
Image presentation is limited by this devices limitations.
About the authors
Martin Hyde is a lecturer in sociology at the University of Manchester. He has a degree in sociology and politics from the University of Bristol and a PhD in the sociology of ageing from University College London. He has a long-standing interest in cross-national comparative research on ageing. He has published numerous journal articles and book chapters on a wide range of issues from consumption to heath inequalities in later life. He has been involved in a number of large-scale studies including the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), the Survey for Health, Retirement and Ageing in Europe (SHARE) and the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Study of Health (SLOSH). He also co-ordinates the Integrated Datasets in Europe for Ageing Research (IDEAR) network. He is an associate editor for Ageing & Society and BMC Geriatrics and Gerontology.
Paul Higgs is professor of the sociology of ageing at University College London. He has a degree in sociology from the Polytechnic of North London and a PhD in social policy from the University of Kent. He has co-authored with Chris Gilleard a number of books: Cultures of Ageing: Self, Citizen and the Body (2000); Contexts of Ageing: Class, Cohort and Community (2005); Ageing, Corporeality and Embodiment (2013); Rethinking Old Age: Theorising the Fourth Age (2015) and Personhood and Care in Advanced Old Age (2016). He is the co-author of Medical Sociology and Old Age: Towards a Sociology of Health in Later Life (2008) with Ian Jones and co-edited Social Class in Later Life (2013) with Marvin Formosa. Professor Higgs edits the journal Social Theory and Health and has published widely in social gerontology and medical sociology. He holds fellowships from the Academy of Social Sciences and the Gerontological Society of America.
Acknowledgements
As anyone who has ever written a book knows it is never just the product of the authors. Through its many stages and iterations, it benefits from the input of others, continually refining it and reshaping it. It is important to acknowledge their role in this process. The current book began life as a PhD thesis. Throughout this stage we benefitted from the wisdom, criticism and support of many people through conference presentations to coffee shop conversations. However, there are a few key people who require a special mention for their intellectual and material support. We would like to thank Chris Gilleard, Ian Rees Jones, Dick Wiggins, James Thompson and Graham Scambler for their input, arguments and encouragement throughout this period.