Inequality

Americans are used to thinking that their nation is special. In many ways, it is: the U.S. has by far the most Nobel Prize winners, the largest defense expenditures (almost equal to the next 10 or so countries put together) and the most billionaires (twice as many as China, the closest competitor). But some examples […]

An aging society is a fact for the United States, much of the developed world, and many developing countries. People are reaching traditional retirement ages with many years of expected life remaining and their functional capacity largely intact. Many of these people want to continue contributing to society through activities that are meaningful to the […]

This paper argues that older adults living alone in the U.S. face a set of unique challenges, as they are likely to experience a sense of precariousness. The term precariousness points to an intrinsic sense of instability and insecurity stemming from a lack of, or difficulty to, access essential resources. During a two-year ethnography of […]

‘Quality of life’ (QoL) is a ubiquitous phrase in medicine. There is considerable literature on the meaning of ‘quality’ in ‘quality of life’, but little on the meaning of ‘life’. And yet, rooted in measurements of QoL, is a conceptualization of ‘a life’ used to judge ‘quality’. In this article I focus on ‘life’ within […]

Population aging and longevity in the context of declining social commitments, raises concerns about disadvantage and widening inequality in late life. This paper explores the concept of precarity as a means to understand new and sustained forms of risk and insecurity that affect late life. The article begins with a review of the definition and […]