This paper investigates the modalities of the government of old people in contemporary society by looking critically at current social gerontological discourse and the claims to truth it makes about the experience of growing and being old, and its impact on the cultural economy of old age. Recent theoretical developments in sociology have problematised dominant cultural, social and academic constructions of ageing and the ways in which old people make sense of their ageing selves against these normalising processes. The impact of structural processes on the experience of old age has been highlighted, dominant discursive practices in relation, for instance, to the care of old people have been deconstructed and spaces of resistance have been identified. At the same time, social gerontology has turned its attention to positive or successful ageing and its payback for individual old people and policy-makers. However, because it is embedded in a broader discourse which gives primacy to lifestyles, social and economic opportunities and moral responsibility, successful ageing is an ambiguous project caught between resisting the mask of ageing and reaffirming the continued cultural repression of the declining body and, by extension, of the ageing self. Recent findings from an on-going life history project involving old people who have moved to ‘age-appropriate’ housing will be used to illustrate the extent to which people who are now old have appropriated new forms of regulation.

In recent years, many researchers in the study of ageing have adopted a terminology of ‘agelessness’. They argue that old age is nothing more than a social construct and that until it is eliminated as a conceptual category, ageism will continue to flourish. This article challenges this view, stating that the current tendency towards ‘agelessness’ is itself a form of ageism, depriving the old of one of their most hard-earned resources: their age. Specific theories of ageing (successful ageing, mask of ageing, continuity theory) are assessed in this light, and original data are presented as evidence of old age as a unique phase of the lifecycle replete with continued developmental possibilities.

Reform of welfare in Britain has sought to shift the balance of pension provision towards the private sector, with consequences for older people's sources of income. The paper uses data from the General Household Survey to examine changes in older people's income from the state and from private pensions from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, focusing on gender and class inequalities.

Although state pensions and other benefits remained the major source of income, especially for women, the relative contribution of private pensions to total income had increased substantially for men. Receipt of private pensions had become more widespread, with narrowing gender and class differences in coverage among older people. However, gender inequality in the amount received had widened and the relative advantage of different occupational groups had changed. Personal pensions had had little impact on the distribution of income among older people, and provided much smaller amounts of income than occupational pensions.

In both Spain and Sweden the most important public support for older people that is provided in their own homes are home-help services. In Sweden, these programmes were expanded in years of economic growth but recently have radically declined. Spain still strives to expand them in spite of financial problems. Both countries ration these services but in different ways. Spain provides relatively few hours of help with household tasks, primarily to poor old people. At present, one to two per cent of the 65-plus population is covered. Local government is still trying to reach more people to relieve pressure on limited institutional care. Sweden continues to cut down the service from the present coverage of nine per cent of the 65-plus population. It is focusing on the oldest and frailest people of all social classes who live alone. It is gradually being transformed into home health care. Institutional care has not been cut back to the same degree. Spain uses strict needs assessments and eligibility criteria to target clients. Sweden has sharpened its needs assessments and raised fees to discourage users with lesser needs.

This article starts with a critique of the literature relating to the living at home/living in a home contrast. It shows this body of work to be dominated by a structured dependency paradigm which depicts residential care as exemplar of institution and home as embodying personal control and self- identity. A modification of the paradigm which gives prominence to diversity and meaning is used to analyse in-depth interviews with frail older people living at home and in a home. The analysis suggests that the prevailing account of residential care needs updating and some revision. The article concludes that the marketisation of social care has had both positive and negative effects on both care delivery in a home and at home. It also contends that there is a limited demand from older people for collective living arrangements and that institutionalisation processes affect older people in whatever setting.