Day, Suzanne

How does society collectively envision what ‘old age’ looks like, and what does this vision mean for how we plan for, support and conceptualise care? This book explores the concepts and practices of care in relation to what Higgs and Gilleard describe as the social imaginary of the fourth age: a collective representation of later life composed of those elements most feared about ‘extreme’ older age, namely, physical and cognitive decline, infirmity, and, ultimately, failure.