2006 IISH PUBLIC SEMINAR SERIES
You are invited to attend
Tuesday 6th June 5.00 pm
Professor Pat Thane MA (Oxon), PhD (LSE)
Leverhulme Professor of Contemporary British History
Director, Centre for Contemporary British History
Convenor, MA in Contemporary British History
‘Things really have got better: the changed experience
of ageing over the past century.’
Something very new is that over the past 60 years or so it
has become normal to grow old. In the more distant past
more people survived to old age than is often thought, but
in the recent past it became almost universal. Life
expectancy has steadily risen. Something that is not new is
that women still generally outlive men. Not only do people
live longer, on average they remain fit and active to later
and later ages. Surprisingly, at the same time that older
people have become more active, they have been retiring
from paid work at earlier ages than in the past: retirement
as a normal phase of life became almost universal only
after World War 2. The lives of older people have changed
in other ways. They were more likely at the end of the 20th
century than ever before to have at least one surviving
child when they reached old age. In previous centuries
high death rates among younger people meant that older
people often had no close surviving family. Now they do,
and most older people are in close contact with their
children and other relatives and if they need care it is most
likely to come from a family member. More older people
live alone than ever before (but so do more people of all
age groups). This does not necessarily mean that they are
lonely (though some are and some have been throughout
history), but that they prefer the independence of not living
with family and have frequent contact with family and
friends. Age discrimination and disrespect for old people is
real, but it always has been- which does not mean that it
should not be challenged. In many respects there has
never been a better time to be old.
Pat Thane is the Vice President of the Royal Historical
Society at the School of Advanced Study; Chair of the
Social History Society; Chair of the Editorial Board,
Twentieth Century British History; Member of the Peer
Review Colleges of the Arts and Humanities Research
Council and the Economic and Social Research Council.
This seminar will be chaired by Professor Sir Michael
Marmot
This seminar will be held at UCL RSVP seminar
attendance by 02/06/06 (indicating any special needs and
for directions to the seminar room) Email: [log in to unmask]
Tel: 020 7679 8249 Drinks & snacks at 6pm after the
seminar.
You may access an audio recording of past seminars at:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/iish/seminars.htm
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