ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the various challenges for critical gerontology created by the social, economic, and cultural changes linked with the development of globalization. It provides key phases in the development of old age as it has evolved over the past 50 years. In virtually all industrialized societies, with varying degrees of emphasis, responses to aging were formed around the institutions and relationships associated with state supported public welfare, retirement, and the intergenerational contract. Living in the period of what has been termed “late modernity” is, then, about experiencing a world where, as noted in the introduction, traditional routines and institutions are abandoned, and national boundaries become less salient. In general terms, debates around globalization have focused on issues such as the ecological crisis, the power of multinational corporations, problems of debt repayment, and associated concerns. The impact of globalization may be understood, as has been suggested, at a number of different levels: inter-governmental, state, policy, individual, and theoretical.
