Cover; Contents; Foreword; Preface; Acknowledgments; Chapter 1 -- Images of Old Age; Improvements in the Status of the Elderly; Remaining Problems for the Elderly; Changing Stereotypes; Inequality in Old Age; Problems of Public Funding; Problems of Health Care; A Combined View of Old Age; Conclusion; Chapter 2 -- Public Policy in Old Age; Government Social Protection; The Logic of Social Protection; A Brief History; A Welfare State for the Elderly; The Meaning of Social Security; Support for the Elderly in the United States; Support for Other Age Groups; Support for Public Programs
Social Insurance and Means TestingA European Perspective; Sources of Inequality; The Politics of Inequality; Conclusion; Chapter 3 -- Class Differences before and during Old Age; Stability and Change in Inequality from Middle Age to Old Age; Sources of Declining Inequality in Old Age; Sources of Increasing Inequality in Old Age; Studying Changes over the Life Course; Changes in Work and Retirement; Changes in Health, Disability, and Mortality; Changes in Poverty and Income; Conclusion; Chapter 4 -- Race, Ethnic, and Gender Differences in Old Age; Combining Negative Statuses
Leveling of Race and Ethnic DifferencesDouble Jeopardy in Old Age; Leveling and Double Jeopardy in Race and Ethnic Differences; Retirement; Health; Poverty and Income; Gender and Age; Familism; Economic Sources of Familism; Cultural Sources of Familism; Conclusion; Chapter 5 -- Old Age Support in Comparative Perspective; Comparing Public Pension Systems; National Levels of Spending; Public Pension Rights; Public Pension Programs and Inequality; Pension Regimes; Aging and Pension Support in Japan; Sources of National Divergence; Class Interests; Classes in the United States
Role of the Middle ClassState Structure; A Feminist Critique; Conclusion; Chapter 6 -- Inequality across Age Groups and Generations; Consequences of Population Aging; The Nature and Sources of Generational Inequity; A Reversal of Generational Support; The Need for Policy Changes; Opposition to Claims of Generational Inequity; Exaggerations of Generational Inequity; Real Sources of Concern; The Historical Context of Debates over Generational Inequity; The National Context of Debatesover Generational Inequity; Spending for Children and the Elderly
Summary
Fred C. Pampel describes how age combines with other components of inequality by comparing the influence of group membership on social inequality before and after the life course transition to old age. He looks at the differences in public policy and how age inequality -- more than the other sources of inequality -- relates closely to government policies and studies other societies in which both age group differences and overall inequality differ from those in the United States. Pampel makes a comparison of the United States with other nations a central component of the book
