Age Inequality
Age inequality is an important but often overlooked dimension of social stratification. Both the young and the old can experience significant disadvantage in terms of income, employment, status, and power, yet age-based inequality receives less sociological attention than class, gender, or ethnicity. The AQA specification requires you to understand age as a social construct, examine the inequalities associated with both youth and old age, and evaluate sociological explanations of age-based stratification.
Key Definition: Age inequality refers to the systematic differences in life chances, opportunities, resources, and social status experienced by people of different ages. These differences are not simply biological but are shaped by social, economic, and cultural factors.
The Social Construction of Age
While biological ageing is a universal process, the social significance attached to different ages varies enormously across cultures and historical periods. Age is socially constructed — the rights, expectations, and statuses associated with being young, middle-aged, or old are determined by society, not by biology.
Evidence for Social Construction
- Childhood: Philippe Aries (1962) argued that childhood as a distinct social category did not exist in medieval Europe. Children were treated as "little adults" — dressed the same, working alongside adults, and subject to the same punishments. The modern concept of childhood as a protected, innocent phase is a relatively recent invention.
- Youth: The concept of "the teenager" emerged in the 1950s, linked to the growth of consumer culture, extended education, and the development of distinct youth subcultures. In many societies, there is no equivalent category — young people transition directly from childhood to adult responsibilities.
- Old age: In some societies (e.g., traditional Chinese culture, many African societies), old age is associated with wisdom, authority, and respect. In modern Western societies, old age is more commonly associated with decline, dependency, and social exclusion.
- Retirement: The concept of retirement is a modern invention. Before the introduction of state pensions (1908 in the UK), most people worked until they were physically unable to continue. The retirement age of 65 (originally set for men in 1925) was an arbitrary administrative decision, not a reflection of biological capacity.
Youth Inequality
Employment and Income
Young people face significant economic disadvantage:
- Youth unemployment: In 2023, the unemployment rate for 16-24-year-olds was approximately 11%, compared with 3.5% for the workforce as a whole (ONS). Youth unemployment is consistently two to three times higher than the overall rate.
- Underemployment: Many young people who are employed are in part-time, zero-hours, or temporary contracts that offer little security or progression.
- Low pay: The National Living Wage does not apply to those under 21 (who receive a lower National Minimum Wage rate). This institutionalises age-based pay inequality.
- The gig economy: Young people are disproportionately represented in the gig economy (Uber, Deliveroo, freelance work), which offers flexibility but minimal employment rights, sick pay, or pension contributions.
Housing
- Rising house prices and rents, combined with stagnant wages and student debt, have made homeownership increasingly inaccessible for young people. The proportion of 25-34-year-olds who own their home fell from 59% in 1996 to 28% in 2016 (Resolution Foundation).
- Young people are more likely to live in the private rented sector, which offers less security, poorer conditions, and higher costs relative to income.
- The term "Generation Rent" captures the experience of a generation locked out of property ownership.
Education and Debt
- The shift from grants to loans in higher education has saddled young people with significant debt. The average UK graduate in 2023 left university with over £45,000 of debt.
- While education is supposed to be the route to upward mobility, the returns to a degree have diminished as graduate numbers have increased — a process of credential inflation.
Intergenerational Inequality
Willetts (2010), in The Pinch, argued that the baby boomer generation (born 1945-1965) had accumulated unprecedented wealth — through property ownership, generous pensions, and free higher education — at the expense of subsequent generations. He described this as an intergenerational contract that had been broken: baby boomers had taken more than their fair share and were leaving younger generations with fewer opportunities, more debt, and a degraded environment.
Evaluation:
- The concept of intergenerational inequality captures real trends — falling homeownership, rising debt, pension decline.
- However, it can be criticised for treating each generation as homogeneous. Many baby boomers are poor, and many young people from wealthy families are not disadvantaged. Class remains a more powerful determinant of life chances than age.
Old Age Inequality
Income and Poverty