Long Lives Are for the Rich

Jan Baars is Professor of Humanistic Gerontology at the University for Humanistic Studies in Utrecht, and Emeritus Professor of Philosophy of the Social Sciences and the Humanities at Tilburg University, The Netherlands. Jan’s previously published books include Aging and the Art of Living and co-edited volumes Ageing, Meaning and Social Structure: Connecting Critical and Humanistic Gerontology; Aging, Globalization and Inequality; and Aging and Time: Multidisciplinary Perspectives.

"With a compelling and rigorous critical lens, Jan Baars uncovers the humanly destructive effects of neoliberalism and its 'humanist' intellectual apologists. He demonstrates clearly how popular narratives of social science, philosophy and popular culture are logically and empirically flawed, and how they have served to legitimate neoliberalism’s rise and its continued expansion while naturalizing or otherwise ignoring and obscuring the harmful impact its policies have on individual life chances and aspirations."Dale Dannefer, Case Western University, author of Age and the Reach of the Sociological Imagination"This superb book illuminates, more clearly than any other, the profound relationships among capitalism, neoliberalism, poverty, inequality, and aging. Baars cuts through the misconceptions about healthy aging by showing how the very rich have exploited old people in the quest to accumulate capital. Through a wide range of data and other startling information, the book documents the ways that neoliberal policies prop up global capitalism but deeply hurt people as they age. As a sociologist and medical practitioner trying to care for old people, I often have faced the disastrous conditions that this book describes. But until reading the book, I never fully understood the political- economic sources of patients’ suffering. The book’s revelations point to a need for fundamental social transformation if we are serious about improving health and quality of life for people as they age."Howard Waitzkin, MD, PhD, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Sociology and Health Sciences, University of New Mexico"A bold and original critique of the impact of neo-liberal policies in widening inequalities and undermining social rights. Drawing on his commitment to critical scholarship and a passion for social justice, Jan Baars provides a comprehensive account of the way in which neo-liberal policies have drastically reduced security for the middle and working class in the US, and for disadvantaged older people in particular. He demonstrates how the experiences of older citizens provide a powerful illustration of the operation of social inequalities – and the way these shape health inequalities – over the life course. Jan Baars concludes his book by arguing for a new moral vision of the life course, one guided by considerations of social justice, equity, and mutual respect between citizens."Chris Phillipson, Professor of Sociology and Social Gerontology, University of Manchester

• Introduction. The neo-liberal turn against a supportive life course and the US as its tragic championChapter 1. From a supportive to an entrepreneurial organization of the life course Chapter 2. Long lives are for the Rich…until this backfires Chapter 3. Main forms and temporal dynamics of social inequalityChapter 4. Ageism as a form of social InequalityChapter 5. Social inequality: from central concern to its marginalization Chapter 6. Theories about Social Justice and Equality over the Life Course: Looking away from Social InequalityChapter 7. Social (In)equality over the Life Course: Pitfalls and Perspectives