Changing Contexts of Care

Abstract

Against the backdrop of two world wars and the depression of the 1930s, growing older in the 1950s had particular meanings and carried particular memories. Older people were experiencing the slow transformation of society through times of rationing, poverty and hardship, into times of optimism, new opportunities and the energetic rebuilding of cities and communities. As has been pointed out, however, ‘the lives of those who are growing old today cannot be the same as the lives of those who grew old in the past or those who will grow old in the future’ (Riley et al., 1999, p. 333) and 50 years on, the backdrop to growing older is very different. The main focus of this chapter is on the policy and research contexts within which people have aged and our research and Townsend’s research were conducted.