Ageing in a Consumer Society

Targeted as the 'grey consumer', people retiring now participated in the creation of the post-war consumer culture.  These consumers have grown older but have not stopped consuming.

Based on extensive analysis over two years, this unique book examines the engagement of older people with consumer society in Britain since the 1960s. It charts the changes in the experience of later life in the UK over the last 50 years, the rise of the 'individualised consumer citizen' and what this means for health and social policies. 

The book will appeal to students, lecturers, researchers and policy analysts. It will provide material for teaching on undergraduate courses and postgraduate courses in sociology, social policy and social gerontology. It will also have considerable appeal to private industry engaged with older consumers as well as to voluntary and non-governmental organisations addressing ageing in Britain.

Ian Rees Jones is Professor of Sociological Research at Cardiff University and Director of the Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research and Data (WISERD).

Martin Hyde is Associate Professor in Gerontology and Research Director at the Awen Institute at Swansea University, UK.

CHRISTINA R. VICTOR is Professor of Gerontology and Public Health and Director for Health Ageing in the Brunel Institute for Ageing Studies at Brunel University, West London, and a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health. Her main research interests are in the areas of ageing and later life, including health status, social networks and social relationships, loneliness and isolation, and the ageing of minority communities.

Chris Gilleard is Visiting Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Social & Policy Sciences at the University of Bath and the Division of Psychiatry at University College London. He has published in the areas of psychology, medicine, history and sociology as they relate to ageing and old age. He is also a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.

Paul Higgs is Professor of the Sociology of Ageing at University College London. He has published widely on the changing nature of later life and is a co-editor of the journal 'Social Theory and Health'. Paul is also a fellow of both the Academy of Social Sciences and the Gerontological Society of America.