ABSTRACT

Introduction The purpose of this chapter is to trace some of the connections between health, ageing and the lifecourse. Since the 1970s, medical sociology has developed a wide range of research on social influences in the occurrence and variations in health status and on the experience of health and health care. Whilst it has been concerned to examine the influences of social class, gender and, more recently, ethnicity on health, it has paid relatively little attention to age (Arber 1994). Yet, it is clear that age and health are related in ways that go beyond the most obvious biological parameters; for example, that sight, hearing or mobility diminish in later life. Certainly, the relationship between disability and ageing has received considerable attention on policy related social research and in social gerontology, but more sociological perspectives in such matters have been noticeable by their absence. It has been relatively rare to find articles on ageing and health published in medical sociology journals (Arber 1994). Though, as will be shown later, work on health inequalities is now making connections with ageing and the lifecourse, most medical sociology research has neglected these topics.