As the proportion of elders worldwide continues to expand, new issues and concerns for scholars, policy makers, and health and social care professionals emerge. Ageing in a Global Context is a series of books, published by Policy Press in association with the British Society of Gerontology, which aims to influence and transform debates in what has become a fast-moving field in research and policy. The series seeks to achieve this in three main ways. First, the series publishes books which rethink key questions shaping debates in the study of ageing. This has become especially important given the restructuring of welfare states, alongside the complex nature of population change; both elements opening up the need to explore themes which go beyond traditional perspectives in social gerontology. Second, the series represents a response to the impact of globalisation and related processes; these contributing to the erosion of the national boundaries which originally framed the study of ageing. From this has come the emergence of issues explored in various contributions to the series, for example: the impact of transnational migration, cultural diversity, new types of inequality; and contrasting themes relating to ageing in rural and urban areas. Third, a key concern of the series is to explore interdisciplinary connections in gerontology. Contributions provide a critical assessment of the disciplinary boundaries and territories influencing the study of ageing, creating, in the process, new perspectives and approaches relevant to the 21st century.

Given this context, we are pleased to be able to include in this series a book that takes an interdisciplinary, critical look at the everyday worlds of elders. The editor, Stephen Katz, has been at the forefront of theory and research on social worlds and subjectivities, and the combined chapters he has assembled illuminate everyday worlds in a manner that bridges theory and research with policy and practice. Together, the nuanced theoretical and empirical chapters illuminate ways that ageing experiences are physically mediated. As such, the book is essential reading for policy makers, scholars, and practitioners interested in improving elders’ quality of life.