UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

Older people as users and consumers of health care: A third age rhetoric for a fourth age reality

GILLEARD, C; HIGGS, P; (1998) Older people as users and consumers of health care: A third age rhetoric for a fourth age reality. Ageing and Society , 18 (2) 233 - 248. 10.1017/S0144686X98006904. Green open access

[thumbnail of displayFulltext1.pdf]
Preview
PDF
displayFulltext1.pdf
Available under License : See the attached licence file.

Download (194kB)

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the emergence of consumerism as a dominant theme in the culture surrounding the organisation and provision of welfare in contemporary societies. In it we address the dilemmas produced by a consumerist discourse for older people's healthcare, dilemmas which may be seen as the conflicting representations of third age and fourth age reality. We begin by reviewing the appearance of consumerism in the recent history of the British healthcare system, relating it to the various reforms of healthcare over the last two decades and the more general development of consumerism as a cultural phenomenon of the post World War II era. The emergence of consumer culture, we argue, is both a central theme in post-modernist discourse and a key element in the political economy of the New Right. After examining criticisms of post-modernist representational politics, the limitations of consumerism and the privileged position given to choice and agency within consumerist society, we consider the relevance of such critical perspectives in judging the significance of the user/consumer movement in the lives of retired people.

Type: Article
Title: Older people as users and consumers of health care: A third age rhetoric for a fourth age reality
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1017/S0144686X98006904
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0144686X98006904
Language: English
Additional information: 1998 Cambridge University Press
Keywords: CARE, Consumers, health, Health care, older people, health, health care, transfer, healthcare policy, Consumerism, third age, post-modernism
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Division of Psychiatry
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/60367
Downloads since deposit
382Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item