In the United States, much attention has recently been directed to the issue of whether the welfare system has become over-generous to the retired population, at the expense of families with children. The proportion of the US elderly population living in poverty has fallen significantly in the last fifteen years while the number of poor children has increased rapidly, and it has been suggested that this lack of investment in the next generation of workers may have disastrous longterm consequences for the U.S. economy. This paper considers whether similar trends are evident in Britain. It reviews data on the poverty and income of the elderly population, and finds little unequivocal evidence of relative economic gain over the last two decades, although it is clear that many children have suffered from the recent rise in unemployment-induced poverty. It also looks at direct public expenditure on the elderly through both the pension and the health and personal social services systems, and finds no evidence of a transfer of public resources away from children and towards the elderly population. The paper concludes that the British welfare state has been remarkably neutral in its allocation of resources between generations, and that, in the British context, any discussion of inter-generational conflict for welfare resources establishes a false dichotomy, because economic inequality within broad age groups is much greater than inequality between age groups.

This paper presents a review of current research in Soviet gerontology. It begins by establishing the origins of current research themes in the early investigations of pre- and early post-Revolution gerontologists. Five main areas of current research interest are then outlined: theoretical demography, longevity, physiology of labour, socio-hygiene and international collaborative studies. Some similarities and differences in approaches and emphases in Soviet and western gerontology are noted, and concluding comments address the need to recognise the social contexts in which research frameworks are developed.

The concept of dependency is involved in two strands of the literature on old age, and is used in each with a different effect. In the literature on ‘structured dependency’ the concept is used to describe and criticise a relationship between elderly people and the state that is determined by social policy. In the literature on ‘dependency scales’ the concept is used as a basis for categorising elderly people for research, planning and service purposes. More recent commentary on the role of the concept in relation to elderly people suggests that dependency needs to be understood in a fuller way if it is to be useful in understanding the situation of elderly people in contemporary society. This paper develops the idea that dependency refers to a form of relationship characterised by an unequal distribution of power.

Provision for old people who are in need of continuing care requires close co-operation between informal carers and different agencies and disciplines providing health and social care. In the United Kingdom, the present system of care has evolved from earlier patterns of care centred on the asylums and the poor law with its workhouse institutions. It lacks cohesion. Despite the designation of old people as a priority group, resources are still inadequate to provide a good quality of care. Organisational differences between health and social services can lead to inefficient use of existing resources. More specialised medical, psychiatric and social services for old people enhance the possibilities for co-operation even though they may appear to lead to greater fragmentation. The history of the development of these services in the UK, including the recent expansion of private sector care, is reviewed, with special attention from the medical perspective to the phenomenon of ‘bed blocking’. The recently published Griffiths Report on community care is briefly considered, and some principles for future developments are laid down.