Blaming Old Age: Representations of Intergenerational Unfairness in Austerity Discourses

• In Event: 432 - Regular Session. Impacts of Inequalities over the Life Course

Abstract

This paper discusses generational warfare discourses which have been particularly prominent in the media and most recently linked with austerity. In particular it looks at the representations of older people in such discourses in terms of the greedy and selfish old, on the one hand, and the needy old consuming more than their share of health and welfare on the other. Although previous critiques of this ‘burden of old age’ discourse have mostly focused on challenging the empirical evidence for generational inequity the paper examines its foundation in systemic age-based inequality, namely the age system. A powerful vehicle for social stratification, the age system has been somewhat under-examined in austerity debates involving ages and stages. We consider ways in which re-imagining such representations may lead the way to a more equal age system characterised by more harmonious age relations and a more positive view of old age.

Author

• Susan Pickard, University of Liverpool