Abstract
AbstractThis paper examines intergenerational justice discourses that feature prominently in both the contemporary UK media and beyond, arguing that these constitute both a continuation of previous debates about the economic and social burden of the dependent ‘fourth age’ and a newer and more prominent denigration of the ‘third age’, both of which possess deep cultural and psychological roots. Both themes are subsumed in the trope of the old as in some ways stealing the future of the nation, represented by youth. Analysing media depictions of intergenerational injustice across several themes, the paper suggests that, whilst justifying welfare retrenchment and other aspects of neoliberalism, the portrayal of social problems in terms of generational war emerges from age ideology and an age system that, among other things, intersects with and naturalises other forms of stratification. This partly accounts for the fact that the attack on the ‘third age’ is particularly prevalent in left of centre, or progressive, media on both sides of the Atlantic. That the age system has been overlooked and underplayed in sociological terms is an important oversight since the former materially and ideologically facilitates the ever-growing socio-economic inequality that is a feature of our times.
Highlights
Problematising the third age Discourses in the UK media and popular texts depicting forms of intergenerational injustice wherein the ‘old’ are depicted as taking a disproportionate and ‘unfair’ segment of the nation’s wealth, which impedes the life chances of the young, have become exceedingly commonplace in the UK and other advanced liberal nations
The third age, formerly an aspirational identity, is thereby profoundly devalued. Such a shift in meaning over time reflects the shifts in governmentality shaping new conditions of possibility in which old age may be discussed; the critique of old age as privilege is only possible as a result of the emergence of the third-age category which in turn has distinguished itself from the devalued fourth age
There are resonances historically with representations of social degeneration that blossomed a century ago (Pick, 1993), and link today’s older generations with the aliens, criminals, lunatics and demi-mondaine of the fin-desiecle who threatened to stand in the way of capitalism’s upward and expansionist arc. This points to a key meaning of the generational progress rhetoric, whereby it is largely framed in terms of material improvement, the ability to consume more, in accordance with capitalism’s project of perpetual growth, and which is deeply threatened by the prospect of the shrinking of the youthful market. Repetition of these tropes across the media have a powerful effect on shaping public views; when the articles cited above invite readers comments they invariably lead to comments sharply polarised by age
Summary
Problematising the third age Discourses in the UK media and popular texts depicting forms of intergenerational injustice wherein the ‘old’ are depicted as taking a disproportionate and ‘unfair’ segment of the nation’s wealth, which impedes the life chances of the young, have become exceedingly commonplace in the UK and other advanced liberal nations. This trend is worrying as welfare states are founded upon an implicit intergenerational contract, which is being eroded through this discourse It is an inaccurate representation as it homogenises age categories, overlooking the extent to which they are internally stratified by class, gender and other features. In contemporary times certainly the young, or ‘millenials’ are experiencing a wealth of problems including the cost of higher education, insecure jobs, high rents and property prices combined with shortage of housing. That this is the ‘fault’ of the older generation, ‘baby boomers’ or others, is deeply inaccurate. Taking just one of the categories – pensions – there is a polarisation in four major ways relating to a striking difference in wealth between:
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