ABSTRACT
As we will see in this chapter, the life-course approach developed in social gerontology is a highly effective tool not only in understanding the social situation of elderly people but also for the study of social processes in general. The idea of the life course, which includes that of cohort succession, facilitates the integration of a historical perspective into the debate on social inequality, without losing the individual perspective (Harris 1987). Thus, inequality as a feature of life courses will provide us with a powerful intellectual tool with which to reconceptualize processes of social inequality in general. The idea of life course is important because it enables us not only to look at elderly people in relationship to other age groups, but also in relationship to the historical development of the society of which they are part, and the place of their own personal biography within that history. Comparisons across time as well as across society will help reveal the processes that structure people’s relationships according to age criteria. By reviewing changes in the history of the life course in Europe, and the Western world in general, we can start to understand the forces that lead to the current condition of elderly people (Van Tassel & Stearns 1986, Minios 1989).
