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The Ideology of ‘Age/Race Wars’: Deconstructing a Social Problem

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2008

Meredith Minkler  and
Ann Robertson
Meredith Minkler
Affiliation:
Professor and Chair of Community Health Education, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, California, U.S.A.
Ann Robertson
Affiliation:
Doctoral candidate, Health Policy and Administration, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, California, U.S.A.
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Abstract

Efforts in the United States to encourage divisiveness within the working class have been widely recognised as a key strategy in the war on welfare. This paper examines one aspect of this overall strategy, namely the creation of an ideology based on generational equity and ‘age/race wars’ thinking, which blames the old for poverty and economic hardship in the young. Attempts to frame problem analysis and policy deliberations within such an ideological framework are seen to be based on spurious assumptions concerning the relative financial well-being of the old, the role of elderly entitlements as a cause of poverty in minority children, and growing resentment of programmes for the old among minorities and youth.

This paper examines recent attempts to de-legitimate the claims of the elderly through the advancement of an ideology of age/race wars. The assumptions underlying this approach to policy are critiqued, and a case is made for developing an alternative framework which would stress the interdependence of generations, rather than age/race group competition.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , March 1991 , pp. 1 - 22
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

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