Towards a Political Economy
of Old Age*
ALAN WALKER?
‘Anolder person is expected to “accept” the “facts of ageing”
ABSTRACT
Although widespread poverty in old age has been recognized in Britain
for at least IOO years, research on age and ageing has tended to concentrate
on individual adjustment to old age and in turn, on narrow functionalist
explanations of depressed social status. The elderly have been treated
as a homogeneous group facing common problems. In contrast, an
approach to ageing based on political economy will examine the relative
social and economic status of different groups of elderly people as well as
the relationship between the elderly and younger generations. Thus it is
argued that poverty in old age is primarily a function of low economicand
social status prior to retirement and the depressed social status of the
retired, and secondarily, of the relatively low level of state benefits. Social
policies which have failed to recognize inequality in old age and the
causes of low economic and social status have therefore failed to tackle the
problem of poverty and low incomes. The starting point for policy-makers
should be the labour market and the social relationship between age and
the labour market.
Introduction
The existence of poverty and deprivation amongst a substantial proportion
of elderly people has been a recurring theme of research on ageing
and social conditions in all industrial societies.’ In Britain, elderly people
have been shown to be the largest group living in poverty ever since such
information was collected systematically.’ Today just over one in four
* Revised version of a paper presented at the British Society of Gerontology Annual
t Lecturer in Social Policy, Department of Sociological Studies, University of
Conference, Aberdeen, I 980.
Sheffield, West Bank, Sheffield SIOzTN, England.
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74 Alan Walker
elderly people have incomes equal to or below the poverty line compared
with one in twenty of non-elderly people. Altogether nearly two-thirds of
the elderly, comprising 5.1 million people, live in or on the margins of
poverty, compared with one-fifth of the n~n-elderly.~In the USA about
one in every five elderly people have incomes below the federally cstablished
minimum.5 In Japan, nine-tenths of elderly people have incomes
in the lower half of the income distribution.6 Data could be adduced to
show a similar pattern in other industrial societies. Indeed, so common
is the finding that it is for the most part, apparently, no longer considered
remarkable.
Recent official research on retirement and on the social circumstances
of elderly people do not discuss the problem of p~verty.~Poverty is not
mentioned as a subject area in the most recent register of major social
research on old age, which can presumably be taken, with due caution, as
a reliable barometer of research interest in the field of social gerontology.8
One of the 'most notable gaps in old age research', pin-pointed by an
analysisof studies currently in progress, is income maintenan~e.~Of course
gerontological researchers have not completely ignored the problem of
poverty in recent years," but it certainly does not occupy the central focus
that bald facts on the social condition of elderly people would appear
to warrant. More importantly, this neglect stemsin part from, and in turn
reinforces, a forebearance of poverty in old age on the part of the state.
For example, the official guide to the care of the elderly in Britain does
not mention the problem, and the most recent green paper on elderly
people refers to poverty once, in a ministerial foreword which seems to
imply that the problem has been solved."
While the major problem of poverty in old age has been ignored in
recent official research and policy statements, low incomes have been
accepted as an inevitable consequencc of old age and therefore something
to which elderly people must 'adjust'.'* This acceptance is legitimated
through theories of need based partly on age13and narrowly functionalist
theories of ageing.14The latter suggest,in essence, that with increasing age
people withdraw voluntarily from roles and relationships, or alternatively
that they form a sub-culture, distinct from wider society. Either way
elderly people are treated as a distinct homogeneous group who have, on
the whole, adjusted to the ageing process.15Age, like time itself, is a great
leveller. The distinction between the 'young-old' and the 'old-old' may
be seen as a variation, rather than a departure from these theories." Not
surprisingly, pressure groups consisting predominantly of elderly people
themselves, such as the Gray Panthers in the United States, have totally
rejected such stereotypes of ageing and the elderly.lTDespite this opposition,
however, the stereotype of the elderly as a homogeneous group with
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Towards a Political Economy of Old Age 75
special needs exerts a powerful influence on public attitudes and policies
towards this group."
Approaches to age and ageing based on the implicit assumption that
the elderly can be treated as a distinct social group, in isolation from the
rest of the social structure, have provided a totally inadequate basis for an
explanation of the persistence of poverty in old age, and continue to
obstruct the formation and application of social policies aimed at solving
this problem. Thus little attention has been paid to the diferential impact
of social processes on elderly people. One important example of this
failure is the long-standing neglect of women in studies on the transition
to retirement." Secondly, by creating or reinforcing negative stereotypes
through the portrayal of elderly people as a group with unique needs,
there is a danger that a 'dysfunctional tension' will be set up between the
elderly and the rest of society.*' Resentment towards the elderly has not
been openly and consistently articulated in British society, but periodic
expressions of alarm at the 'burdcn' of dependency may be seen as one
result of socially divisive attitudes and policies. Although they reflect a
crude ageism these attitudes cannot be dismissed simply in this fashion,
because to do so would ignore significant variations in status and experience
between different groups of elderly people. Alternative explanations
of both widespread dependent status and deep-seated poverty are called
for. In contrast to theories of ageing and the causes of dependent status
based on the isolation of elderly people from social processes and values,
an approach based on political economy locates the elderly firmly within
the prevailing social and economic structure. Thus rather than concentrating
on biologically based differences in ageing and individual
adjustment to the ageing process, it would focus on the social creation
of dependent status, the structural relationship between the elderly and
younger adults and between different groups of the elderly, and the
socially constructed relationship between age, the division of labour and
the labour-market. The remainder of this paper attempts to sketch the
outline of such an approach.
LifelongSocial Statusand the Social Organizationof Production
In contradistinction to analyses of the 'problems' of elderly people or
of ageing the starting point for this explanation of poverty and
dependent social status is the social institutions and processes which distribute
resources prior to retirement. Primarily of course this means
employment and the labour market, but there are also a wide range of
other institutions, for example building societies, banks, insurance comCambridge
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76 Alan Walker
panies and social services, which play an important part in the differential
allocation of resources to young as well as old people. Underlying these
institutions there is the class structure itself which, to a large extent, determines
opportunities, life chances and lifelong social status at birth.2' This
social division of life chances is not inflexible, but whatever limited opportunities
there are for social mobility, different cohorts of adults come to
retirement with differentially distributed access to resources and therefore
with different opportunities and post-retirement life chances.
Cross-national research carried out in 1962 revealed that in Britain
and the United States white-collar retirement pensioners were less likely
than the blue-collar group to receive state benefits, and much more likely
to receive income from dividends and interest." The significance of class
position at birth rather than at or just prior to retirement can be gauged
by a comparison of social status across generations. Such a comparison
was attempted in the analysisof data from a national survey of household
resources and standards of living carried out in the UK in 1968-69. This
showed that non-manual elderly people whose fathers had also been in
non-manual occupations tended to have more resources than those whose
fathers were in manual occupations.2sComparison of the two extremesof
this class - generational continuum, non-manual elderly with non-manual
father and partly-skilled or unskilled manual elderly with father likewise,
revealed that 41 per cent compared with 63 per cent had net disposable
household incomes below or on the margins of poverty; 7 per cent compared
with 48 per cent had household net income worth (disposable
income plus the annuitized value of assets) below or on the margins of
poverty; and 2 per cent compared with 50 per cent had net unit assets of
25,000 or more.24Those elderly people who had held semi-skilled or
unskilled jobs and were from similarlylow status familieswere the poorest
of all. The influence of class of origin was also apparent in determining
the resources, particularly assets, available to elderly people in the same
social class. Thus, for example, elderly people in the skilled-manual group
whose fathers were also skilled manual were slightly more likely to own
their own homes than those in the same class whose fathers had been
semi-skilledor unskilled.
So, an important determinant of living standards in old age is employment
status and socio-economic group prior to retirement, which in turn,
rests partly on social class of origin. During working life differential access
is granted to social systems which distribute resources, the most important
of which is employment. Those with high incomes from employment are
more likely than others to accumulate savings, property and private pension
rights. On the other hand those in low status jobs are more likely than
other groups not only to be low paid but also to experience sickness and
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Towards a Political Economy of Old Age 77
unemployment. The unemployment rate for skilled and unskilled workers
is four times that for professional employee^.^^ Those wholly or predominantly
excluded from the labour market, including people with disabilities
and some women, are most likely to be amongst the very poorest in old
age, a point I return to later.
The social division of employment and income opportunities under discussion
here rests primarily on the social organization of production and
the values underlying this organization. Under capitalist modes of production,
in contrast to some agricultural economies, the ownership of productive
resources is highly concentrated. ''As a result workers are dependent
on owners of capital for the hire of their labour power, which means that
their position is relatively powerless, especially in the matter of tenure.
The intervention of trade unions in this power relationship has created a
wide variation in the degree of precariousness experienced by workers.
Some groups, such as professional workers, are by contrast extremely
powerful in determining their own tenure and conditions. Superannuation,
discussed in detail below, underlines the precarious nature of the
workers dependence on capital. Moreover the values on which capitalist
distribution is based, inequality, independence, privatisation, the work
ethic and monetary incentives, both enforce the view that individuals
should provide for their own old age, and define the stigma attached to
dependence on the state. Differential access, according to status, to occupational
pensions, savings opportunities, asset ownership and so on mean
that inequalities implicit in the capitalist mechanism of distribution are of
fundamental importance in determining living standards in old age. State
support, itself based primarily on the need to maintain monetary incentives,
rather than to compensate for inequalities ensures that these differences
are perpetuated. What is more, systems of distribution differ in the
extent to which they protect individualsfrom economicand socialchanges.
Thus because inflation enhances some forms of capital ownership, such as
land and housing, and depletes fixed incomes and small savings, it
reinforces inequalities."
Inequality and Poverty in Old Age
Inequalities forged or reinforced in the labour-market are carried into
retirement. Various changes in the structure and organization of employment
over the last century, including the rise of shift-work and assembly
line production ; the increase in part-time work (especially amongst
women) and the formation of professional groups, have widened labourmarket
inequalities. Regardless of whether or not there are only two
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78 Alan Walker
distinct, primary and secondary, labour-markets in Britain," there is no
doubt that labour-market experiences are socially divided with two distinct
extremes. On the one hand a large number of jobs are boring,
arduous or alienating, offering little or no prospects for promotion, few
fringe benefits and relatively little security; while on the other there are
relatively highly paid jobs offering a wide range of fringe benefits, a great
deal of autonomy and security of tenure. These divisions under-pin post
as well as pre-retirement experiences.The fact that inequalities in income
(an important qualification) are slightly narrowed after retirement is due
primarily to the relatively wide coverage of state benefits.*!' Inequality
between elderly income units is narrower in Britain than the United States
and Denmark, but the levels of income are lower.3oNeverthelessthere are
wide inequalities amongst elderly people in British society based on the
differential ownership of assets and right to income.
Occupational pensions are of fundamental importance in this structure
of inequality and are one of the main reasons behind the emergence of
'two nations' in old age, forewarned by Titmuss twenty-five years
Two sources of inequality may be distinguished here. There is unequal
access to occupational pensions, based primarily on socio-economic group
and employment status, and secondly, there is inequality between generations
of elderly people arising from changes in pension conditions and
levels. The coverage of occupational pensions increased from 2.6 million
employees in the I 930s and stabilized at about I I .5 million employeesin
the I ~ ~ O S , ' ~about half of the workforce. Some 2 million workers are not
eligible for pension schemes because their employment is part-time or
temporary, and a further I .7 million occupy ineligiblejobs. The majority
of those excluded from their employer's pension scheme (62 per cent) are
manual ernployee~.~~Not only do manual workers have restricted access
to occupational pensions compared with non-manual groups but also if
they receive pensionsthey are often on lessfavourable terms. For example,
in both public and private sectors, manual workers are less likely than
non-manual workers to receive lump sums on retirement, receive pensions
that are based on final salary and to have their pension preserved if they
change jobs.'* The mean amount of an occupational pension for professional
and managerial workers is roughly five times that for unskilled
manual workers.35Turning to the second form of inequality arising from
occupational pensions; as successive age cohorts of elderly people have
become eligible for occupational pensions, and these have been increased,
previous generations have become relatively deprived. Thus the median
level of pensions in 1975, for males aged under 65 was G15.00 compared
with g6.00 for those aged 70 and
A second important source of inequality between elderly people is in
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Towards a Political Economy of Old Age 79
labour-force participation. Those who continue to work after retirement
age are less likely than the retired to experience poverty: in 1976 only 7
per cent of elderly families whose head was in paid employment had
incomes on or below the poverty line, compared with 4 per cent of those
whose head was not in empl~yrnent.~'In the three-nation study carried
out by Shanas and her colleagues, most of the elderly people in employment
were in the middle or upper end of the distrib~tion.~~The fact that
the proportion of income units receiving employment income rises as total
income rises has been confirmed by recent official research. Taking single
person households first, amongst men aged 65 to 73, 30 per cent of those
in work had net weekly incomes under 230 compared with 82 per cent
of the retired; for women aged 60 to 73 the figures were 53 per cent and
85 per cent. In two-person households, amongst men aged 65 to 73,3 per
cent of those in work had net weekly family incomes of less than S30
compared with 26 per cent of the retired; the figures for women aged 60
to 73 were 5 per cent and 28 per cent respecti~ely.~~
Labour-force participation amongst elderly people is dependent on a
large number of factors, including socio-economic status, health, administrative
regulations and custom, the most important of which are discussed
later. In fact only a small proportion, about 12per cent, of elderly people
living in the community are in full or part-time work.4oThis proportion
differs markedly according to age, sex and marital status. For example
amongst men, 25 per cent of those aged 65-69 are employed compared
with 3 per cent of those aged 80 and over. Elderly married men are more
likely to be employed than non-married men, single women are more
often employed than those who are or have been married." These differences
in labour-force participation are, of course, reflected in differences
in income, but regardless of employment status, single elderly people are
more likely than married elderly people to experience poverty. For
example, in 1968-9, 82 per cent of single (unmarried, widowed, divorced,
separated) elderly people who had retired were living in or on the margins
of poverty, compared with 61 per cent of married elderly people.42
Inequalities were even wider when assets were included: single men and
single women were much less likcly than married persons to have assets
of more than G I 00 or to own their own
Inequalities in socio-economicstatus are based only partly on age. More
significant is the denial or restriction of access to resources of people of
advanced age. When taken together with factors already discussed the
effect is to distinguish a severely disadvantaged group of elderly pcople of
advanced age. There is a sharp diminution of resources with advanced
age, regardless of marital status. Thus, for example, in 1968-69, 48 per
cent of men aged 65-9, 68 per cent aged 70-9 and 85 per cent of those
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80 Alan Walker
aged 80 and over had incomes on or below the poverty line. For women
in these age groups the figures were 63 per cent, 73 per cent and 86 per
cent.44The inclusion of assets reduced the proportion living below the
poverty line, but the trend for those of advanced age to be poorest
remained unmistakable."' The fact that the number of persons aged 75
and over are expected to increase rapidly to 3.4 million by the turn of
the cent~ry"~emphasises the magnitude of the social problem resulting
from the social disadvantage of this group.
SocialCreation of Dependent status
In addition to class position prior to retirement which is a major determinant
of access to resources in old age, and the relative disadvantage of
successive cohorts of elderly people, an explanation of reduced social
status in old age must also take account of major differences between
young and old and particularly the disproportionate impact of poverty
on elderly people. The extent of this burden is summarized in the table
below, showing the inequalities in income between old and young.
TABLEI . Percentage of individuals in families with incomes above or
below the state's standard of poverty4'
Householdincome as a percentage of supplementary benefit
Family Type IOO or
less
100-
'39
140-
'99
Elderly couple 16
man 26
woman 39
no children
Non-elderlycouple 2
couple with children 4
singleparent 35
All individuals 9
singleperson 6
40
32
5
36
'7
29
'3
'7
27
23
18
'9
40
32
32
22
over
200
18
'7
73
12
39
'4
49
42
Total
I00
I 0 0
I 0 0
I00
I 0 0
100
I 0 0
I00
Number in
population
(thousands)
3,990
770
39490
9.590
28,010
199'0
5,050
52,790
Of course household income is only one aspect in the overall distribution
of resources which determines the relative position of different groups
in the social and economic structure, but a similar pattern of inequality
between old and younger adults could be demonstrated on the basis of
information about assets, property, savings and income in kind from a
wide range of social services, which buttress or directly substitute for
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Towards a Political Economy of Old Age 8r
income.48The most significant fact underlying these inequalities is the
relatively small proportion of elderly people who are economically active:
14 per cent of men aged 65 and over compared with 92 per cent of those
aged 16-64.49The importance of this differenceis indicated by data from
the latcst Family Expenditure Survey: in 1977 some 77 per cent of
households whose gross incomes were below $25 were retired, while at
the other cnd of the income distribution, only 5 per cent of households
whose gross incomes were 2200 or more were retired." These income
figures were reflected in the expenditure of different households: the
average wcekly expenditure of retired households was 240 compared with
282 for the empl~yed.~'
The process of retirement, which results in an average fall in income
of about ~ne-half,~'is of immense significance in determining the structural
relationship between young and old and the depressed social status
of elderly people. Therefore a political economy of this process is an essential
component of our explanation of poverty and dependency in old age.
It is important to establish at the outset that 'old' age is socially defined,
as the statutory retirement age. In a relatively short space of time, retirement
has become a dominant social process in the lives of older people.
This trend can be illustrated simply by reference to successive cohorts of
those currently over retirement age. Four-fifths of those elderly people
living in the community who are aged 85 and over continued working for
some period after the statutory retirement age, compared with one-half of
those aged from 75 to 84 and just over one-third of those aged 65-74.53
Moreover the trend is distinguishableover very short periods of time. For
example, betwcen 1971 and 1978, the proportion of males aged 60 to 64
who were retired rose from 6 per cent to 12 per cent; for those aged 65-69
the proportion retired increased from 67 per cent to 73 per cent; for those
aged 70 to 79, 78 per cent to 87 per cent, but for those aged 80 and over
92 per cent to 85 per cent.64
Superannuation, like redundancy and unemployment bcfore it, emphasises
the dependence of workers directly or indirectly on capital and the
socially divided nature of this dependent relationship. Some socioeconomic
groups may continue working beyond the statutory retirement
age and indeed, gain status for doing so, others are effectively excluded
from labour-force participation at, or before, that fixed age. In the face
of unemployment most workers are relatively powerless to oppose the
social and economic forces which will detach them from employment,
perhaps for a substantial period; in the face of bureaucratic regulation and
institutionalized social custom, on top of economic imperative, elderly
people are even more powerless to resist. Even so, 'a substantial minority'
of elderly men and women would have liked to continue working beyond
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82 Alan Walker
retirement age but were not able to do so.s5In a recent study of retirement
the main reason given by older workers for having difficulty getting a
suitable job was the fact that they were 'too old'.56Not surprisingly,perhaps,
those over the age of 65 have the highest degree of job satisfaction
compared with other age-gro~ps.~'Attachment to economic activity on
the part of elderly people can be further demonstrated by the fact that in
I 962 just over three-quarters of employed men aged 65 and over said that
they would 'never retire',58 and in 1976 three-fifths of men and seventenths
of women said they would work as long as they could.
The tyrannical effect of age-barrier retirement can be seen not only in
the exclusion of substantial numbers of older workers from labour-force
participation but also in the changes in socio-economic status following
retirement. As table two shows there is a dramatic downward shift in
status after retirement age for both men and women.
TABLE2 . Percentage of employees in diflerent socio-economic groups
according to age and sex5'
Socio-economicgroup Men Women
55-64 65-73 All ages 50-59 60-73 Allages
Employers and managers
Professional
Intermediate non-manual
Junior non-manual
Personal service
Foremen and supervisors
Skilled manual
Semi-skilledmanual
Unskilled
Otherslnot answered
16 I2 '3
6 5 5
4 3 6
10 22 12
I 2 I
6 I 4
16 12 '3
32 I 1 30
5 PI 8
5 I 0 9
6 8 5
'3 8 I 1
32 24 37
18 18 '3
4 5 6
I 1 I0 '3
10 22 7
3 4 7
-2 I
I I I
Total
Number
100 I 0 0 100 100 I00 I00
399 561 '99 454
Amongst both sexes there is a clear shift to unskilled work from skilled
employment in the case of men, and from clerical work in the case of
women. The industrial distribution of elderly people confirmsthis pattern
of reduced social status, with a flow out of manufacturing industry and
into distribution and other services."O Furthermore elderly employees are
much more likely than younger adults to work part-time, 64 per cent of
men and 78 per cent of women compared with 4 per cent and 32 per cent
respectively of all workers."' Where the employment of elderly male
workers was different from their main life job those working full-time
were likely to be sales workers and those working part-time, labourers or
cleaners. These dramatic changes in employment and socio-economic
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Towards a Political Economy of Old Age 83
status are reflected in earnings. For example, only 8 per cent of full-time
older workers aged from 55 to 64 had weekly earnings of under &40compared
with 20 per cent of full-time workers aged 65 to 73, the figures for
women aged from 50 to 59 and 60 to 73 were 37 per cent and 55 per
cent.62
A key factor in the creation of reduced socialstatus amongst the elderly
is therefore the increasing tendency to superannuate older workers at fixed
ages. Just over one-half of men who retired at 65 and one-fifth of women
who retired at 60 did so because of compulsory retirement, a further
one-third and two-fifths retired of their own Three-fifths of men
and one-half of elderly workers who changed jobs at retirement age did
so because of forced retirement; in addition 46 per cent of both men and
women who gave up work at retirement age would have liked to go on
working.64Inequalities between different groups of elderly people are
based primarily on socio-economic status prior to retirement, but the
process of retirement superimposes reduced social status on the majority
of elderly people. This process is legitimated in capitalist societies by a
general devaluation of the skills, ability, knowledge and output of older
workers. Even when ‘productive’, elderly people are likely to be relatively
deprived in relation to other younger age groups.65When superannuated
into dependence or peripheral economic status elderly people are also
likely to be relatively deprived compared to other groups amongst the
elderly as well as younger adults.
In contradistinction to this analysisof the social formation of dependent
status in old age some authorities have explained these changes in individualistic
terms, or as part of a natural historical development towards a
new form of society. For example, according to Neugarten:
Although the point has often been exaggerated,it is true that as a result of a
slow historical process the older person is no longer the repository of wisdom
which he may have been in simpler and more stable societies. More recently,
he is also moving away from the role of economic producer - or the role of
worker, as we have usually used that term. He has now become the user of
leisure time. In that new role the young-old may be regarded as the first age
group to reach the societyof the
Explanations such as these overlook inequalities between different groups
of elderly people of the same age and the structural relationship between
the elderly and the rest of society but, most importantly, they appear to
ignore the fact that the relationship between age and the labour-market,
which defines the economic role of elderly people in society, is socially
determined and institutionalized through administrative regulation or
customary practice. The dynamics of this social definition can be briefly
illustrated by reference to two contrasting periods in Britain’s economic
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84 Alan Walker
development. In the early 1950swhen manpower was in relatively short
supply efforts were made to discourage retirement and tap the reserve
labour-force of elderly workers. In 1951 Fred Lee, the Parliamentary
Secretary to the Minister of Labour, made the following plea to older
workers:
I ask them to think again: some of us may have become accustomed to the
idea of retiring at a fixed age of 60-65, but a man of 65 can today look
forward to a long period of useful life. I have no doubt that many people
would have a happier and healthier old age if they continue in their work a
little longer rather than give up their routine and sink into a premature old
age.67
Furthermore as Phillipson points out, these frequent appeals were accompanied
and in part legitimated, by a body of academic and medical
evidence stressing the detrimental effects of retirement. The National
Advisory Committee on the Employment of Older Men and Women was
establishedin 195I to draw attention to the labour shortage and to encourage
elderly people to defer retirement. In contrast, with the rise in unemployment
in the 1960sand especially in the 1970sand various changes in
the structure and organization of work, including the attraction of large
numbers of married women into part-time work, retirement has been
firmly established. In 1976 Greville Janner MP introduced the Sex
Discrimination (Ageof Retirement)Bill, arguing that:
There are more than a million unemployed people, of whom most are well
and most are anxious to work. There are also about one million men aged
between 60 and 64, the majority of whom wish to retire but are unable to do
so, and men who are anxious to have a decent and comfortable retirement
are required by our incrediblesystem to work on.68
In both periods, incidentally, attention was focussed on the economic and
social 'burden' created by large numbers of dependent elderly people.
Now, with the growth in unemployment in the 1970s and early 1980s
a trend towards early retirement has been established by many employers
and condoned officially through the Job Release Scheme.6gJust over onefifth
of men and one-eighth of women interviewed in 1976gave up work
between the age of 50 and the statutory retirement age.70The dominant
reason amongst men for early retirement is sickness, a fact confirmed by
data from the USA,71which together with unemployment accounts for
nearly two-thirds of men who retired prematurely, and one-quarter of
women.72Ill-health is even more significant in very early retirement:
78 per cent of men who left work under the age of 60 and 33 per cent of
women who left under the age of 55 gave ill-health as the reason.73
So, for a significant proportion of men and women retirement age is
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Towards a Political Economy of Old Age 85
effectivelylowered by sicknessor unemployment. The differential distribution
of these social problems has major implications for the resources
available to different groups in old age. Semi-skilled and unskilled men
and semi-skilled women are over-represented amongst early retirer~.'~A
recent study of early retirement found that even amongst 'voluntary' early
retirers, whose main considerations were financial, two important factors
were health and dissatisfaction with work or the job." Thus early retirement
is primarily a function of socio-economic status and the social
organization and structure of employment. Again it is not age as such that
determines premature retirement but the social relationship between age,
health and the labour-market." Some older workers suffer from redundancy,
but others may be forced to leave work because their jobs are too
strenuous or because their health has deteriorated under poor working
conditions. Such restrictions are more common in manual than nonmanual
employment," and therefore informal reductions in retirement
age merely exacerbate inequalities between these groups and most importantly,
they fail to answer directly the need for radical changesin the work
processesand working conditionswhich create ill-health in older worker^.'^
The Poor and the Poorest
Early retirement, like age-barrier retirement, has a differential impact
on older workers. The imposition of a fixed retirement age effectively
excludes a substantial proportion of older workers from labour-force
participation and is therefore a major determinant of economicand social
status in old age. Of course there are a range of other factors which determine
the exact impact of retirement, including socio-economic group
prior to retirement, level of unemployment and type of employment, but
the effect of a fixed retirement age is, at best, to freeze labour-market
differcntials. Some occupational groups are permitted to work beyond
statutory retirement age, and not only earn additional income but also
pension rights. Those most vulnerable to a loss of employment status at a
fixed age are most likely to suffcr redundancy, unemployment and illhealth
earlier in their working lives. In addition job changes prior to
retirement are often downwardly mobile. Those in the lowest socioeconomic
groups are much less likely than others to have been doing the
same job for most of their working lives: amongst men only 37 per cent
of unskilled manual workers compared with 79 per cent of managerial
and profcssional and 83 per cent of foremen and skilled manual groups.79
Secondly, with unemployment approaching 8 per cent of the workforce,
the dimculty of finding alternative employment at age 50 cannot be
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86 Alan Walker
over-emphasized, but the problem for workers who are forced to leave
jobs at the customarily accepted retirement age is even greater. Those
living in areas where unemployment is above thc national average face an
impossible task. In the US the main reason given by elderly people for
not looking for work was that they thought they could not obtain it.'' In
other words some older workers are excluded from the labour-force
prematurely by redundancy or ill-health and others at the statutory
retirement age by the lack of employment opportunities.
The corollary to these trends in retirement is that an increasing proportion
of elderly people are financially dependent to a greater or lesserextent
on the state. More than nine-tenths receive all or part of their income in
the form of state benefits. Cross-national research carried out in 1962
revealed that elderly income units in Britain were more likely to be totally
dependent on the state for income compared with those in the US and
Denmark.81This dependency, and the levels of state benefits available to
elderly people are secondary rather than primary causes of poverty in old
age. The rates of social security benefits are determined in capitalist
societies by the need to maintain monetary incentives and the work ethic
and to restrain taxation ;hence the value of the single person's retirement
pension has remained at around one-fifth, and the married couple's around
three-tenths, of average male gross industrial earnings since I 948. Moreover,
because of the complicated eligibility rules and stigma of meanstested
supplementary benefit a substantial proportion of elderly people
fail to claim the benefit they are entitled to.'' In view of the financial
dependence and for many, deep poverty, associated with retirement it is
not surprising that financial considerations are foremost in the minds of
elderly people at retirement age. For example, the most frequent spontaneous
reason for continued working beyond retirement age in Parker's
study of retirement was connected with money.s3 Furthermore, fourfifths
of those men who had retired early and were still under pension age
when interviewed said that money was the main thing they rni~sed.'~
Research by Burkhauser in the US showed that even amongst those older
workers with poor health, changes in the value of pensions and earnings
remained important factors in making the decision whether or not to
retire."j
Retirement and the resulting dependence on relatively low incomes
from the state imposes a depressed social and economic status on the
elderly relative to younger adults. In addition the sources of inequality
discussed previously, including receipt of an occupational pension, continued
employmcnt, marital status and age define the composition of a
severely disadvantaged minority amongst the elderly. They are likely to
be of advanced age, single, female, socially isolated and wholly dependent
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Towards a Political Economy of Old Age 87
on supplementary pensions. Furthermore they are likely to be disabled to
some extent, perhaps necessitating early withdrawal from the labourmarket,
and have additional needs as a consequence.saThey are likely to
be relatively deprived by virtue of their class position, but retirement and
in turn, the diminution of resources with distance from retirement superimposed
depressed social status on top of the disadvantage of class. The
social factors underlying the creation of this depressed minority can be
illustrated with reference to the status of elderly women.
As a result primarily of segregativeemployment policies,discriminatory
social policies restricting access to resources on an equal basis to men, and
depressed social status relative to men, which disadvantage them during
their working lives, elderly women are disproportionately represented
amongst the very In general women occupy a lower status in
the labour-market than men. They are more likely to work part-time and
partly as a consequence, to be low paid.” This pattern of disadvantage is
repeated in the US.” Married women who,leave the labour-market to do
housework are relatively deprived in relation to other women as well as
men. Married women are more likely than other women to have their
access to money and other resources restricted by men. One important
consequence of their low employment status is that a smaller proportion
of women than men are covered by occupational pension schemes, and
when they are covered their pensions are lower. Moreover not all male
occupational pensions include widows or full widows benefits. In 1975,for
example, onc-half of retired men compared with one-third of single
women, but less than one-fifth of widows and under one-twentieth of
married women received occupational pensions. The average pension
received by men was 2.8 per week and by widows and single women, less
than 2.6.Q0Only one in twelve very elderly widowed and single women
(aged 80 and over) received occupational pensions compared with about
one in two men.’l
Segregative labour-market policies continue to disadvantage women
beyond retirement age. Although women are slightly less likely than men
to leave work at the statutory retirement age, a smaller proportion remain
in full-time work beyond the age of 65.” Women are much less likely than
men to retire early, but much more likely to be impelled to do so by the
need to look after someone other than their husband. Among those who
gave up work between the ages of 40 and 59 the need to care for a sick
or infirm relative was second only to health as a reason for doing
Those who continue working are likely to receive lower incomes than
men.94Women are disproportionately represented amongst the elderly
and especially the very old. As a consequence of increased age and
restricted access to resources prior to and after retirement women are more
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88 Alan Walker
likely than men to be wholly dependent on state benefitsYQ6and as table
one showed, arc more likely than other groups of elderly people to have
incomes on or below the poverty line.
Conclusion
A great deal of influential research in social gerontology has tended to
treat elderly people as a detached minority, independent from economic
and political systems, and ‘their problems’ in terms of individual adjustment
to ageing or retirement. Very little attention has been paid to the
structural relationship between the elderly and the rest of society and the
differential impact of social and economic institutions on elderly people.
An examination of the resources available to elderly people reveals sharp
inequalities between them and younger adults, as well as the existence of
abject poverty amongst some of them. The persistence of illness and death
resulting from hypothermia and malnutrition among elderly people are
stark reminders of the deep-rooted nature of this pr~blem.’~At the other
extreme some clderly people look forward to a relatively prosperous
retirement with substantial pension rights and protection from inflation,
although subsequent bereavement, sickness or disability may severely
reduce living standards for these groups as well. Inequalities between old
and young and amongst the elderly must be explained if they are to be
counteracted.
The theme of this paper has been that poverty is a function of low
economic and social status prior to retirement which restricts access to a
wide range of resources, and secondly, of the imposition of depressed
social status through retirement.” Inevitably in such a brief account
complex social relationships are simplified to some extent, but the dominant
trends are unmistakable. Differential social and economic status
in the labour-market presages a variety of post-retirement experiences.
Despite evidence on the wide variety of capacities and knowledge among
older workers there has been an increased tendency in recent years to
exclude them from the labour-force at a fixed age.gs Moreover, the
tyranny of age-barrier retirement provides the motivating force underlying
a more general devaluation of the worth of elderly people in capitalist
societies. When older workers are not required by capital or the agencies
of capital they are superannuated and often encouragcd to withdraw from
the labour-force prematurely, and their skill, ability and knowledge is
dismissed in derogatory terms such as ‘obsolescent’, ‘unproductive’ and
‘inefficient’.There is no evidence, however, of a decline over time in the
productive capacity of older workers at any given age, say 65, so that the
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Towardsa Political Economy of Old Age 89
emergence and forceful application of age-barrier retirement must be
explained primarily in terms of social and economicfactors.
Similarly some authorities have identified widespread discriminationin
capitalist societieson the basis of age.99But to dismiss the depressed social
status of the elderly simply in these terms is to ignore the complex,
dynamic relationships between elderly people and the social organization
of production and employment, which defines the boundaries of productive
activity and in capitalist societies, therefore, dependency. Thus
poverty and dependency in old age are not determined by chronological
age, but the social construction of age through social institutions and
policies and the social division of labour and class structure, which are
also derived principally from the social organization of production and
related processes.
I have attempted to explain the depressed socialstatus of elderly people
and particularly the persistence of poverty on the basis of social and
economicforces at work in societyas a whole, which stem ultimately from
the dominant mode of production in British society. What are frequently
identified as individual problems of consumption, low incomes, savings,
inadequate stocks of consumer durables and so on, may be traced to the
structure and organization of production and the particular pattern of
inequality and social construction of age it generates. On this basis it is
possible to begin to explore some aspects of the complex relationship
between ageing and the social organization of production. The structural
basis for the dependency of elderly people is one facet of the dependency
of all labour on capital, but elderly people are particularly disadvantaged
by developments in the organization of work, such aschangesin industrial
techniques and processes, the restructuring of capital, the growth of professions,
the spread of credentialism and so on, which deny them access
to an increasing range of jobs and confine them largely to low status
employment. Changes like these in the industrial and educational sectors
have contributed to the increasingly rigid age stratification of capitalist
societies?''
Segregativesocial policieshave combinedto define, at a particular point
in time, who are no longer useful to the process of production. The effect
of this exclusion is to depress the status of elderly people relative to
younger, productive adults and to sustain inequalities between different
groups among the elderly. The superannuation of elderly workers from a
life-time's productive activity, at a fixed age regardless of ability, is legitimated
however, by institutionalized social policies which underplay the
mandatory aspect of retirement and stress, for example, the poor rewards
from continued employment, the need to make way to young people, the
need to avoid accidentsor ill-health and the need to enjoy leisure.lol
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90 Alan Walker
This account has concentrated on the distributional impact of retirement
and old age rather than the important psychological and personal
problems of adjustment to job loss. Employment is not only the primary
source of income and status in industrial societies, it also has a major
integrative function in providing the basis for participation in a wide
range of roles and relationships. So the exclusion of elderly workers from
the labour-force reduces their range of social contacts. Moreover since
work is the central activity of industrial societies, they also lose selfesteem.
If, in addition, an elderly person internalizes society's negative
stereotype of old age he or she is likely to become alienated.'02 There is in
short a tension between 'the integrative impulses of informal primary
relationships and segregative impulses of formal industrial so~iety'.'~~
Just as the sociology and economics of ageing have tended to neglect
the political economy of old age, so 'political gerontology' has concentrated
on individual participation, voting and pressure group activities.lo4
The latter is not wholly surprising since much of the writing in this field
derives from the pluralist tradition in the US, but this neglect means that
major sources of inequality in old age and between the elderly and the rest
of society have been relatively unexplored. A thoroughgoing approach
based on political economy would combine sociological, economic and
political analyses. For example, an examination of differential command
over resources, would include the exercise of professional power over the
livesof elderly people, the application of segregativesocialpolicies,benefits
and services and the social creation of dependent status. In the absence of
an analysisof the structural relationship between the elderly and the rest of
society, social policies have failed to tackle the seriousand persistent problem
of poverty in old age. Instead low incomes have been accepted as a
'natural' result of old age and in some instances elderly people have been
characterized as a 'burden'.
Social policies implicit in the approach to old age discussedin this paper
would centre, first on the labour-market. One aspect of a concerted social
policy to end poverty in old age would be flexible retirement, coupled
with the pursuit of full employment and radical changes in the structure
and organization of work, in order to prevent the use of flexible retirement
to force a lower retirement age,lo5and allow greater choice in retirement.
Secondly, the social security system has failed to eradicate poverty in old
age. There is a pressing need for policieswhich increase the value of retirement
pensions relative to earnings and which do not depend on a declaration
of means or dependent status.'" Thirdly, policies are required to
ensure that elderly people control their own affairs, for example, in community
services and residential accommodation and over pension funds.
In sum, major social changes are necessary to lift the yokes of poverty and
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Towards a Political Economy of Old Age 91
dependency from the elderly. These are ‘facts’ of ageing which elderly
people have accepted for too long.
NOTES
Stein E., ‘What is Ageism?’, in Gross, R., Gross B. and Seidman, S. (ed.)
The New Old: Struggling for Decent Ageing, New York, Anchor Books, 1978,
Sce, for example, Shanas, E., Townsend, P., Wedderburn, D., Friis, H.,
Milhaj, P. and Stehouwer, J., Old People in Three Industrial Societies, London,
Routledge, 1980.
Booth, C., Pauperism: A Picture; and the Endowment of Old Age; An Argument,
London, Macmillan, 1892; idem, The Aged Poor: Condition, London,
Macmillan, 1894; Townsend, P., Poverty in the United Kingdom, London,
Allcn Lane, 1979.
Layard, R., Piachaud, D. and Stewart M., The Causes of Poverty, Background
Paper No. 5, Royal Commission on the Distribution of Income and Wealth,
London, HMSO, 1978, p. 14. Here the ‘poverty line’ is dcfined by the supplementary
benefit scale rate appropriate to families of different sizes. Those
whose net household income does not exceed 140 per cent of this minimum
are ‘on the margins of poverty’.
Hendricks, J. and Hendricks, C. D., Ageing in Mass Society, Cambridge, Mass.,
Winthrop, 1977,p. 236.
Maeda, D., ‘Ageing in Eastern Society’, in Hobman, D. (ed.) The Social
Challenge of Ageing, London, Croom Helm, 1978,p. 61.
Parker, S. R., Older Workers and Retirement, London, HMSO, 1980;Hunt, A.,
P. 89.
The Elderly at Home, London, HMSO, 1978.
tion for the Care of Old People, 1979.
8 Todd, H., Old Age: A Register of Social Research, London, National Corporag
Ibid. p. vii.
10 Sec, for example, Butcher, H. and Crosbie, D., Pensioned O#,University of
York, CDP Unit, 1978; Muller, C. F., ‘Economic Roles and the Status of the
Elderly’ in Borgatta, E. F. and McClusky, N. G. (eds) Ageing and Society,
London, Sage, 1980,pp. 17-41.
I I Central Office of Information, Care of the Elderly in Britain, London, HMSO,
1974; Department of Health and Social Security, A Happier Old Age, London,
HMSO, 1978,p. 4.
1 2 DHSS, ibid. p. 2 1 .
13 Sce Wynn, M., Family Policy, I-Iarmondsworth, Penguin Books, 1972, ch. I.
14 Cumming, E. and Henry, W., Growing Old, New York, Basic Books, 1961;
Rosc, A. M., ‘The Subculture of the Ageing: A Framework in Social Gerontology’,
in Rose, A. M. and Peterson, W. A. (eds) Older People and Their Social
World, Philadelphia, Davis, F. A,, 1965,pp. 3-16.
15 IIcndricks, J. and Hendricks, C. D., op. cit. p. 105.
16 Ncugarten, B. L., ‘Age Groups in American Society and the Rise of the YoungOld’,
Annals of the American Academy of Political Science, Vol. 415, 1974,
17 Hudson, R. B., ‘Old Age Politics in .4 Period of Change’ in Borgatta, E. F. and
PP. 18798.
McClusky, N. G., op. cit. D. 163.
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92 Alan Walker
18 Walker, A., ‘The Social Creation of Poverty and Dependency in Old Age’,
Journal of Social Policy, Vol. 9, I, 1980, p. 51.
19 See, Phillipson, C., ‘The Sociology of the Transition’ in Johnson, M. L. (ed.)
Transitions in Middle and Later Life, papers from the British Society of
Gerontology Annual Conference, 1979, p. 2.
20 Etzioni, A., ‘Old People and Public Policy’, Social Policy, Vol. 7, 1976, p. 21.
21 Wcstergaard, J. and Resler, H., Class in a Capitalist Society, London, Heinemann,
1975; Goldthorpe, J., Social Mobility and Class Structure in Modern
Britain, Oxford, Clarcndon Press, I 980.
22 Shanas, E., et al., op. rit. p. 406.
23 Zbid. p. 410.
24 Townsend, P., OF.cit. p. 803.
25 Central Statistical Office, Social Trends, London, HMSO, 1980, table 5.19.
26 See, Goody, J., ‘Ageing in Nonindustrial Societies’ in Baistock, R. and
Shanas, E. (eds) Handbook of Ageing and the Social Sciences, New York,
Reinhold, 1976,pp. I 17-29. Concentration on the capitalist mode of production
should not be taken to imply that the inequality between old and young and
amongst old people under discussion herc is not also characteristic of other
forms of society, but rather that the structure of inequality is relative to the
prevailing relations of production. In Wcstcrgaard’s terms ‘Different modes of
production involvc different modes of incquality ’. Westcrgaard, J., ‘Class,
Inequality and “Corporation” ’ in Hunt, A. (ed.) Class and Class Structure,
London, Lawrence and Wishart, 1977, p. 163.
27 Lewis, P., et al., Inflation and Low Incomes, London, Fabian Society, 1975.
28 Docringer, P. B. and Piore, M. J., Internal Labour Markets and Manpower
29 Royal Commission on the Distribution of Income and Wealth, Lower Incomes,
30 Shanas, E., et al., op. cit. p. 371.
31 Titmuss, R. M., Essays on ‘the Welfare State’ (second edition), London, Allen
32 Government Actuary, Occupational Pension Schemes 1975, London, HMSO,
33 Ibid. p. 17.
35 Royal Commission on the Distribution of Income and Wealth, op. cit. p. 378.
36 Government Actuary, op. cit. p. 21.
37 Royal Commission on the Distribution of Income and Wealth, of. cit. p. 375.
38 Shanas, E., et al., op. cit. p. 374.
39 Parker, S., op. cit. p. 31.
40 Hunt, A., op. cit. p. 58.
41 Ibid. pp. 58-9.
42 Townsend, P., op. cit. p. 795.
43 Zbid. p, 796.
44 Zbid. p. 798.
45 Lbid. p. 799.
46 Age Concern Research Unit, Profiles of the Elderly, Vol. I , Mitcham, Age
47 Source: Layard, R., et al., op, cit. pp. 14-15.
48 Walker, A., op. cit. pp. 52-8.
49 Office of Population Censuses and Survcys, General Household Survey 1978,
London, HMSO, 1980,p. 97.
Analysis, Lexington, D.C., Heath, 197I .
Report No. 6, Cmnd 7175,London, HMSO, 1978,p. gg.
and Unwin, 1963, p. 74.
1978, P. 9.
34 Ib2.d. PP. 47749, 73.
Concern, 1977,p. 13.
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Towards a Political Economy of Old Age 93
50 Department of Employment, Family Expenditure Survey I977, London,
51 Zbid. p. 87.
52 Central Policy Review Staff, People and their Families, London, HMSO,
1980,p. 68.
53 Hunt, A., op, cit. p. 61.
54 OPCS, op. cit. p. 94.
55 CPRS, op. cit. p. 77.
56 Parker, S., op. cit. p. 75.
57 OPCS, op. cit. p. I O I . The proportion working part-time is also a significant
58 Shanas, E., et al., op. cit. p. 341; Hunt, A., op. cit. p. 61.
59 Source: Parker, S., op. cit. p. 34 and Hunt, A., OF. cit. p. 59.
60 Hunt, A., op. cit. p. 59.
61 Zbid. p. 60. 30 hours or less.
62 Parker, S., op. cit. p .35.
63 Zbid. p. 13.
64 Hunt, A., op. cit. pp. 61,63.
65 Townsend, P., op. cit. p. 795.
66 Neugarten, B. L. of. cit. p. 198.
67 Quoted in Phillipson, C., The Emergence of Relirement, University of Durham,
68 Quoted in ibid. p. 45.
69 Department of Employment, Employment Gazette, March 1978, pp. 283-5.
70 Hunt, A., op. cit. p. 62.
71 See, Shanas, E., ‘Health and Adjustment in Retirement’, Gerontologist, 10,
1970, pp. 19-21; Schwab, K., ‘Early Labor-Force Withdrawal of Men Participants
Aged 58-63’, in Irelan, L. M., et al., Almost 65: Baseline Data from
the Retirement History Study, Washington D.C., Department of Health,
Education and Welfare, 1976,pp. 43-56.
HMSO, 1978,p. 110.
factor.
pp. 31-2.
72 Parker, S., op. cit. p. 10.
73 Zbid. p. 14.
74 Zbid. p. 16.
75 McGoldrick, A. and Cooper, C. L., ‘Voluntary Early Retirement - Taking the
Decision’, Employment Gazette, August 1980,p. 860.
76 According to a recent official survey of retirement: ‘The biggest single influence
on retiring under pension age was found to be age: the closer one is to 60/65,
the more likely one is to be retired’. Parker, S.,op. cit. p. 13.
77 Schwab, K., op. cit. p. 46.
78 See for example, Walker, A., ‘The Social Origins of Impairment, Disability
79 Hunt, A., op. cit. p. 65.
80 Muller, C. F., op. cit. p. 34.
81 Shanas, E., et al., op. cit. p. 413.
82 There is a similar problem of non-claiming in the US, see Hendricks, J. and
Hendricks, C. D., op. cit. p. 236.
83 Parker, S., op. cit. p. 67.
84 Zbid. p. 2 2 .
85 Burkhauser, R. V., ‘The Pension Acccptance Decision of Older Workers’,
86 Townsend, P., op. cit. pp. 815-19.
87 Wedderburn, ‘The Old and the Poor’, New Society, 22 July 1965, p. 8.
and Handicap’, Medicine in Society, 6, 2, 1980.
The Journal of Human Resources, Vol.XIV,p. 74.
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94 Alan Walker
88 Hurstfield, J., The Part-Time Trap, London, Low Pay Unit, 1979.
89 Hendricks, J. and Hendricks, C. D., op. cit. pp. 215-16.
go CPRS, op. cit. p. 77.
91 Government Actuary, op. cit. p. 22.
92 Parker, S., op. cit. pp. 4-5.
93 Hunt, A., op. cit. p. 63.
94 Parker, S., op. cit. p. 31.
95 See McCoy, L. (ed.) Old, Proud and Poor, London, Wandsworth Task Force
(undated),p. 25; Shanas, E., et al., op. cit. p. 364.
96 Wicks, M., Old and Cold, London, Heinemann, 1978; Committee on Medical
Aspects of Food Policy, Nutrition and Health in Old Age, London, HMSO,
97 See Walker, A., ‘The Social Creation of Poverty and Dependency in Old Age’,
op. cit.; Townsend, P., Poverty in the United Kingdom, op. cit. Ch. 23.
98 Therc is some evidence to suggest that Britain has gone further than some other
countries in the exclusion of older workers from labour-force participation, see
Shanas, E., et al., up. cit. p. 292.
‘979, PP. 162-3.
99 See for example, Gross, R., et al., op. cit. pp. 77-150.
loo See Goody, J., op. cit.; Riley, M. W., Johnson, M. and Foner, A. (eds) Ageing
I O I Comfort comments that ‘Lcisure should occupy an occasional afternoon, not
102 Hendricks, J. and Hendricks, C. D., op. cit. p. 224.
103 Shanas, E.,et al., op. cit. p. 426.
104 Estes, C. E., ‘Political Gerontology’, Society, 15,1978, pp. 43-9; Hudson, R. B.,
‘Old Age Politics in a Period of Change’ in Bargatta, E. F. and McCluskey,
N. G., op. cit. pp. 147-89.
and Society, Vol. 3, New York, Russell Sage, 1972.
twenty years’, Comfort, A., op. cit. p. 82.
105 Muller, C. F., p. 32.
106 Etzioni, A., op. cit. p. 2 1 .
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