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Wild animals were once thought not to age, as their deaths were viewed as the consequences of constant exposure to the perennial risks of nature. Studies of non-human aging were largely confined to biological investigations, focusing upon short-lived species such as fruit flies, mice and nematodes. Over recent decades, this has changed, and studies of non-human aging have begun to investigate aging taking place in social contexts. The present paper reviews such work on social aging in non-human primate societies. Four themes were evident in seeking potential parallels between human and non-human social aging. These were social disengagement, social bonds or social capital, status rank and dominance, and kinship ties. No studies were found that had explored parent caregiving. The lack of clear evidence that agedness is perceived and recognised within non-human primate groups suggests that most age-associated behavioral changes are at best demi-regularities that map quite imprecisely upon social aging in human societies. However as non-human primate societies are becoming gradually confined to areas and environments established through human agency and human institutions, it is possible to speculate that non-human primate old age will become more common if less natural and as a result, perhaps more akin to social aging in human societies.

PurposeThe aim of the study is to demonstrate evidence that societal ageing and poor economic growth are linked in the advanced economies. It challenges the claim however that secular stagnation represents a serious problem for future prosperity.Design/methodology/approachThis paper critically reviews recent formulations of the secular stagnation hypothesis concerning stalled economic growth in the advanced economies and the links between demographic ageing and economic slowdown. It outlines both trends (of ageing and stalled growth) and reviews some of the key empirical studies that have sought to determine the role played by demographic change in accounting for the relative lack of growth in the advanced economies.FindingsThe advanced economies are ageing and their economic growth is slowing, although a causal link between these two phenomena remains unproven. However, even if no direct causal link can be drawn between these two processes the focus upon the impact of societal ageing serves as a stimulus to re-think the nature of future growth in our increasingly ageing and unequal societies.Research limitations/implicationsWhile the measurement of demographic trends is relatively straightforward, there are more problems in specifying the exact parameters of macroeconomic growth. This makes empirical studies in the area difficult to interpret. However studies in this area have value in widening thinking about the role of ageing and the nature of growth in the future.Practical implicationsRather than fearing the prospect of an age related slowdown in the rate of growth in the advanced economies, these developments offer opportunities to focus upon redistribution more than growth, while supporting a programme of growth with equity in the world's developing economies.Social implicationsWhile a demographically over-determined model of the secular stagnation hypothesis is dubious, the future ageing of the advanced economies is certainly a challenge. It is also an opportunity for rethinking ideas about ageing, growth and development. Adopting such a more nuanced perspective offers a counter-narrative to the demographic catastrophising that is often evident when discussing 'societal ageing'. It also suggests the value of shifting the perspective of seeking ever increasing growth toward a greater focus upon redistribution, between and within the generations.Originality/valueThere has been very little engagement with the secular stagnation hypothesis outside economics. Behind its macroeconomic formulation, however, lie assumptions about the ageing of society that can easily become examples of unwarranted demographic catastrophising. By bringing this topic to the attention of the social sciences, the paper can serve as a stimulus for rethinking both ageing and growth.

AbstractThis paper examines the role of the body in the social and psychological study of ageing. Drawing upon the phenomenological tradition, it argues that the body occupies a halfway house between materiality and subjectivity, unsettling those social psychological and biological frameworks by which age and ageing are traditionally understood. While offering no simple resolution of this ambiguity, the paper highlights the intrinsic nature of this dilemma. After reviewing recent research and writing concerning body awareness, body ownership and body affordance, the thesis is proposed that much of what constitutes bodily ageing can be seen as a series of 'normal abnormalities'. These result in our experience of bodily ageing pivoting uneasily between an object and a subject position. This dialectic is incapable of synthetic resolution but still, to varying degrees it preoccupies many in later life. It is rarely confronted in its full complexity, however, in ageing studies. The phenomenological tradition provides an under-utilised framework for future investigations in this field.

PurposeThis study aims to explore whether trends in the pattern of income inequality over the past 40 years apply equally to working and retirement age households in the UK, and if so, why this might be so.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on data from the Office of National Statistics, various indices of income inequality have been calculated among retired and working-age households for the period 1977–2017.FindingsDespite a broadly similar trend towards increasing inequality during the 1980s and into the 1990s among both types of household, income inequality among UK retired households has always remained below than that of working-age households. For retired and working-age households alike, the fortunes of those in the upper half of the income distribution have seen themselves do better. Despite the temporal contiguity, different explanations for both sets of inequalities seem to be required, and likely different strategies needed to ameliorate their more negative effects.Originality/valueFew studies have conducted comparisons of inequality between retirement and working-age households over four decades in any country. The present study's long view suggests that factors creating inequality in the upper half of the income distribution may differ in both their cause and impact, compared with inequalities in the lower half. Arguably, the greatest need is to improve access to benefits for those retired householders at the bottom of the income distribution.

ABSTRACTDrawing primarily upon data from the various censuses conducted in Ireland after the Act of Union in 1800, this paper seeks to elucidate the changing position of older people in Ireland during the Victorian period. Following the Great Famine of 1845–1849, it is argued, Ireland was transformed from a young, growing country to one that, by the end of the 19th century, had become 'prematurely' old. By the end of Victoria's reign, not only had Ireland grown 'old', but its older population were more likely to be identified as paupers. Later-life expectancy decreased and sickness and infirmity among the over-60 s increased. By employing a stricter form of 'less eligibility' in the drafting and implementation of the Irish Poor Law, proportionately more older people received indoor relief than outdoor relief compared with the rest of the British Isles. Not until the Old Age Pensions Act in 1908 did these disparities begin to change, by which time many of these 'other' Victorians had passed away.

ABSTRACTAgeing and longevity have been central to the concerns of Western natural philosophy since their origins in Classical Greece. Greek medicine formulated the idea that the humours constituted the physiological basis of all living beings. Hippocrates identified these as blood, phlegm, black and yellow bile. Several hundred years later, Galen elaborated this Hippocratic doctrine, formulating the outlines of a theory of ageing and a regime to maintain health in old age. Formalised in Alexandria, the Galenic canon was later revised and expanded by physicians and philosophers from the Islamic world. The result was a theoretical superstructure linking together the humours, the elements (air, earth, fire and water) and the four qualities (heat, coldness, moisture and dryness) that constituted the basis of life, its development, decline and end. This 'superstructure' was further refined and revised during the Middle Ages, providing the theoretical basis for regimes for living well in later life that were written and published during the Renaissance. Although the 'scientific revolution' of the 17th century challenged Galenic medicine, many aspects of it survived into the modern period. This paper reviews the rise and demise of this tradition while also recognising that through much of this period other, more controversial approaches to the problems of ageing were espoused. In concluding, continuing points of contact with contemporary gerontological theory are emphasised.