Twelve Age discrimination in history
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John Macnicol
Abstract
This chapter offers an insightful historical analysis and outlines the age legislation linking it to four discernable trends: declining economic activity rates, demographic imperatives post-2020 with the associated increased pension costs, skills shortages and rising life expectancy. It considers the timing of this legislation and by outlining the recent history of the legislation, evaluates some of the tensions in the age discrimination debate and what has come to be called ageism set within an historical discourse. It argues that the difficulty has often been in providing legally verifiable proof, based on US experience of similar age legislation. It suggests that the uniqueness of the British ‘welfare state’, built up over centuries, has resulted in a contradictory assemblage of both positive and negative age-based discriminatory welfares. It concludes that the focus of the debate should be on long-term structural labour markets shifts and patterns that have ‘de-industrialized older men’.
Abstract
This chapter offers an insightful historical analysis and outlines the age legislation linking it to four discernable trends: declining economic activity rates, demographic imperatives post-2020 with the associated increased pension costs, skills shortages and rising life expectancy. It considers the timing of this legislation and by outlining the recent history of the legislation, evaluates some of the tensions in the age discrimination debate and what has come to be called ageism set within an historical discourse. It argues that the difficulty has often been in providing legally verifiable proof, based on US experience of similar age legislation. It suggests that the uniqueness of the British ‘welfare state’, built up over centuries, has resulted in a contradictory assemblage of both positive and negative age-based discriminatory welfares. It concludes that the focus of the debate should be on long-term structural labour markets shifts and patterns that have ‘de-industrialized older men’.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of figures and tables v
- List of contributors vi
- Introduction 1
-
Key areas of social policy
- Personal social services: developments in adult social care 15
- Creating a patient-led NHS: empowering ‘consumers’ or shrinking the state? 33
- A ‘pivotal moment’? Education policy in England, 2005 49
- Strategic pragmatism? The state of British housing policy 65
- Social security policies in 2005 83
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Health and well-being
- More than a matter of choice? Consumerism and the modernisation of health care 101
- Being well and well-being: the value of community and professional concepts in understanding positive health 121
- Happiness and social policy: barking up the right tree in the wrong neck of the woods 145
- Using health and subjective wellbeing for quality of life measurement: a review 165
- Community well-being strategy and the legacies of new institutionalism and New Public Management in third way New Zealand 193
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Ageing and employment
- Extending working life: problems and prospects for social and public policy 221
- Age discrimination in history 249
- Training and learning in the workplace: can we legislate against age discriminatory practices? 269
- Ageing and employment: looking back, looking forward 293
- Index 313
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of figures and tables v
- List of contributors vi
- Introduction 1
-
Key areas of social policy
- Personal social services: developments in adult social care 15
- Creating a patient-led NHS: empowering ‘consumers’ or shrinking the state? 33
- A ‘pivotal moment’? Education policy in England, 2005 49
- Strategic pragmatism? The state of British housing policy 65
- Social security policies in 2005 83
-
Health and well-being
- More than a matter of choice? Consumerism and the modernisation of health care 101
- Being well and well-being: the value of community and professional concepts in understanding positive health 121
- Happiness and social policy: barking up the right tree in the wrong neck of the woods 145
- Using health and subjective wellbeing for quality of life measurement: a review 165
- Community well-being strategy and the legacies of new institutionalism and New Public Management in third way New Zealand 193
-
Ageing and employment
- Extending working life: problems and prospects for social and public policy 221
- Age discrimination in history 249
- Training and learning in the workplace: can we legislate against age discriminatory practices? 269
- Ageing and employment: looking back, looking forward 293
- Index 313
