Austerity and aging in the United States: 1980 and beyond

This paper presents a critical examination of the past and future direction of social policies for the aged in the United States. The definitions of the social problem of old age and of the appropriate policy solutions for this problem have reflected the ups and downs of the U.S. economy and the shifting bases of political power during the past thirty years. In the 1980s, three dominant definitions of reality are shaping public policy for the elderly: (a) the perception of fiscal crisis and the necessity for reduced federal expenditures; (b) the perception that national policies should give way to decentralization and block grants; and (c) the perception of old age as an individual problem. It is argued that old age policy in the United States reflects a two-class system of welfare in which benefits are distributed on the basis of legitimacy rather than on the basis of need.