Older people consume a larger proportion
of public services than younger generations
Old Old - 75+
Young Old - 65 - 74
Increased expenditure in health
One-person
pensioner households
Increased number of
one-person households
Account for 4%
of households
Most females as they
live longer than men
The dependency ratio
Non-working
old are
economically
dependent
Working age
have to pay for
them (e.g. taxes)
Retired people rising increases the
dependency ratio on working age
However,
pension
age
increasing
Although increasing
dependency ratio for
older generation,
decreasing burden
because of less
dependent children
Social construction
of ageing as a
'problem'
Average age
of the UK is
increasing
Griffiths report on the care of
the elderly saw society as
facing a problem of meeting the
escalating costs of heath and
social care for the growing
numbers of old people
Fears of how
society will meet
the cost of
providing pensions
Ageism -
stereotype
based on age
Old portrayed
as vulnerable,
incompetent
or irrational, a
burden to
society
In traditional
societies,
elderly
respected and
revered
Townsend says one reason for negative attitudes to
the elderly is that our view has been socially
constructed as a period of dependency by creating a
statutory retirement age at which most people are
expected to stop working and rely on inadequate
benefits which drives many into poverty
Policy implications
Hirsch says that social policies and
trends need to be put in place to
tackle problems created by an ageing
population
Paying for the old - more
taxes, longer hours
Hirsch argues e
have to reverse
the current
trend towards
early retirement
Do this by
redistributing
educational
resources to
elderly so
they can
continue to
develop skills
and earn
Changing
housing policy to
encourage
elderly to have
smaller housing
Hirsch recognises
these policies also
need a cultural
change in our
attitudes
How we view old
people is a social
construct, not a
biological fact