ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses relationships between ‘older’ people and their younger relatives and the role of such relationships in the well-being of both groups in Britain. It focuses on these relationships in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, but places them in a longer historical perspective. It does not address the complicated question of the age at which people can be, or are, described as ‘old’ or ‘older’; that is highly variable over time, place and context. Rather, it focuses upon the relationships with younger relatives of those people who would be perceived as ‘elders’ in any time or place, generally, those old enough to have children who themselves have children or grandchildren. It makes some comparisons with the experiences of other countries, but the limited extent of systematic comparative study makes more extensive discussion difficult. Gender and feminist analyses are especially important in considering this topic because, in most countries of the world, the majority of older people are and long have been, female, since women tend to outlive men, and women generally are the majority of carers for older people requiring care.
