Social Class in Later Life, edited by Martin Formosa and Paul Higgs, is a rarity, a book that explores social class in later life. Despite social class being a major issue confronting the study of ageing in the 21st century, it has received insufficient attention from academics. Furthermore it has often utilised a narrow employment-focused approach to exploring social class and older age, ignoring the multi-faceted characteristics of social class embraced in this edited collection. Arising from the editors’ long-standing interest in the impact of social class on the quality of life of older people, its genesis was located in a symposium titled ‘Theorising Social Class in Later Life: Power Identity and Lifestyle’ that the editors convened during the 19^th World Congress on Gerontology and Geriatrics of the International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics in July 2009 in Paris, France and a follow-up symposium held at the 20^th Congress in June 2013 in Seoul, South Korea. Social Class in Later Life draws on the insights of scholars from a range of disciplines, nations and cultural traditions to provide an up-to-date collection of theoretical and empirical research on contemporary debates on the relationship between class, culture and later life.

The book begins with a Foreword by Malcolm Johnson who claims that, as the 20^th century moved into its final quarter, enthusiasm for social stratification waned with class becoming less prominent as postmodernism, feminism and gerontology, among other new domains of interest, became central to sociological debates, with extremely limited discussion of social mobility beyond the point of retirement until recent times. In linking social class and old age, Johnson argues that ‘the result is a collection of essays which embrace the rapidly changing worlds of old age and in so doing take a penetrating look into the emerging future’ (xi). It does so by exploring the shifting dimensions of class in the context of older age, challenging approaches which see social class as fixed and immovable, established during years of employment and fixed at retirement.

The introduction to the book sees the editors outline the key objectives and provide a justification for the collection, stating that ‘the individual and collective experiences of growing old, as well as the very nature of age relations, differ so significantly by class that there is an urgent need for a unified analysis in which both age and class are taken into account’ (p. 7). Rather than trying to fit older people into a particular class schema, as much empirical social class research does, the editors claim that the key is to achieve a better understanding of class structuring and action in later life. In particular they seek to shed light on the extent to which lifelong social class relations remain pervasive in later life so that older persons, despite lower engagement with the labour market, are still dynamically engaged in class structuring and action.

Social class in later life includes 10 chapters. Following the introduction, in Chapter 2, Wendy Bottero highlights some of the complexities in the study of class and older age examining the argument that contemporary societies require us to rethink the nature of class inequalities by taking a closer look at the relationship between social class on the one hand, and culture, lifestyle and taste on the other. In Chapter 3, Chris Phillipson acknowledges that growing class inequalities now find their expression in much more individualised circumstances representing a new challenge for researchers utilising class. He outlines the role of globalisation in this process leading to more complex flows of people, activities, communities and networks.

Alexandra Lopes uses the European Quality of Life Survey in Chapter 4 to explore how social class can be operationalised. She highlights that most scholars tend to base their approach on well-established typologies of class, without taking into account how applicable these typologies are when used with older groups. She argues that definitions of social class are often too ‘stretched’ when used in this fashion, claiming that we need to explore more appropriate measures even if there is not a ‘straightforward answer’ (p. 53). Martin Hyde and Ian Rees Jones also utilise empirical data in Chapter 5 where they use the International Social Survey Programme and the Citizenship Survey to examine social class identity and age identity in later life in the context of social change. They conclude that a materialist definition of social class fails to provide sufficient consideration of how older people themselves relate to or identify with class as a salient source of their own identity.

In Chapter 6, Elizangela Storelli and John Williamson focus on the global implications of changes in pension policy. They demonstrate the important role social policy plays in determining income in later life. For instance, pension policies create and maintain class differences in later life but these are based upon different contributory principles which have implications for providing financial security in later years and are gendered in approach. Ultimately retirement reflects the advantages and disadvantages of class positions in relation to resources and quality of life.

Ian Rees Jones and Paul Higgs return to the challenges of operationalising social class and older age in Chapter 7, but specifically in relation to health. They show that much socio-epidemiological research tends to treat class as a variable within standard log-linear models with post-working life not fully incorporated into studies of class and health in older age.

In Chapter 8, Christina Victor shows that there is little research on caring in older age that integrates class, gender and ethnicity perspectives. The ways in which these intersect remain unclear and problematic. Trish Hafford-Letchfield focuses on social work and older people in the UK in Chapter 9, pointing out that there is evidence of widening inequalities as a result of changes in policy, such as the introduction of direct payments, where those with the poorest health and the lowest capacity are least able to take advantage of formal and informal sources of support. The final chapter, by the editors, provides an overview of the collection. They conclude that ‘issues faced by the oldest sections of the population are not just issues of age and dependency’ (p.169), suggesting that the inadequacy of conventional accounts of the linkages between old age and social class may be a result of a wider reluctance to situate older people in processes of social change that affect society.

Overall, Social Class in Later Life provides a comprehensive and timely exploration of the links between social class and older age, together with its associated theoretical and policy developments. It is a well-written, up-to-date, and informative text. It offers a much-needed collection on social class and older age which looks critically at the constraints placed on older people and the emerging cultures of later life. It also raises a number of questions about the measurement of social class and older age, and about strategies to integrate it more fully into theoretical and policy debates. In doing so it provides valuable insights for academics and students interested in older age and social class, as well as for policy makers and practitioners.