Life, Death, and the Elderly: Historical Perspectives

Debates on policy concerning medical care and social welfare of the elderly become ever more pressing, and many of the assumptions on which they are based are now open to question. This study sets out to provide a historical perspective on the economic, medical, class and gender relations of the elderly, which until now have received relatively little attention. In particular, the position of the elderly is linked to the fundamental issues of health, disability and medical care. With attention currently focused on the setting of the retirement age, community and family care, and pensions, as well as wider debates on the rights of the elderly, this volume aims to supply a historical context for such issues.

Margaret Pelling is Deputy Director of the Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine in the University of Oxford. She currently researches on health, medical practice, and social conditions in early modern London. Recent publications include chapters on health care 1500-1918 in Caring for Health: History and Diversity, edited by C. Webster (1993). Richard M. Smith is Reader in the History of Medicine and Director of the Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine in the University of Oxford. He has published extensively on demographic and family history and is currently working on the elderly and the poor law in early modern England.