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The End Game: How Inequality Shapes Our Final Years
Winner of the Outstanding Publication Award, Section on Aging and the Life Course, American Sociological Association
Senior citizens from all walks of life face a gauntlet of physical, psychological, and social hurdles. But do the disadvantages some people accumulate over the course of their lives make their final years especially difficult? Or does the quality of life among poor and affluent seniors converge at some point? The End Game investigates whether persistent socioeconomic, racial, and gender divisions in America create inequalities that structure the lives of the elderly.
“Avoiding reductionist frameworks and showing the hugely varying lifestyles of Californian seniors, The End Game poses a profound how can provision of services for the elderly cater for individual circumstances and not merely treat the aged as one grey block? Abramson eloquently and comprehensively expounds this complex question.”
―Michael Warren, LSE Review of Books
“The author’s approach situates inequality experienced by older Americans in a real world context and links culture, social life, biological life, and structural disparities in ways that allow readers to understand the intersectionality of diversity imbued in the lives of older Americans…Abramson opens a window into the reality of old age, the importance of culture and the impact it has on shared/prior experiences, and the inequalities that structure them.”
―A. L. Lewis, Choice
Senior citizens from all walks of life face a gauntlet of physical, psychological, and social hurdles. But do the disadvantages some people accumulate over the course of their lives make their final years especially difficult? Or does the quality of life among poor and affluent seniors converge at some point? The End Game investigates whether persistent socioeconomic, racial, and gender divisions in America create inequalities that structure the lives of the elderly.
“Avoiding reductionist frameworks and showing the hugely varying lifestyles of Californian seniors, The End Game poses a profound how can provision of services for the elderly cater for individual circumstances and not merely treat the aged as one grey block? Abramson eloquently and comprehensively expounds this complex question.”
―Michael Warren, LSE Review of Books
“The author’s approach situates inequality experienced by older Americans in a real world context and links culture, social life, biological life, and structural disparities in ways that allow readers to understand the intersectionality of diversity imbued in the lives of older Americans…Abramson opens a window into the reality of old age, the importance of culture and the impact it has on shared/prior experiences, and the inequalities that structure them.”
―A. L. Lewis, Choice
256 pages, Paperback
First published June 9, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 12, 2023
In the end game, we all die. It is depressing. It is also a fact! We all take different paths to that end, with different tools and strategies at our disposal. And all of that begins with our lives and choices right now! Good information here for contemplation. Very well presented, if not a bit biased. It almost felt like he researched with the biased hypothesis in mind and then wrote used the data he gathered to reinforce that hypothesis instead of exploring other explanations. The sampling he used was a bit small too, imo. I would love to see the data expanded to more communities in different parts of the country. I must say that in the conclusion he brought it all together sans the bias and ended with a poignant truth. Worth the read!
December 22, 2017
Read for a sociology class. This offered a much more intimate look at aging. Eye opening.
December 31, 2020
A great look into the aging process in terms of SES,race,and gender.
August 21, 2015
The author is a sociologist, but for me this is really a book about ethics. What is the ethically right way to treat seniors in our (affluent American) society? Should every senior be entitled to a "decent" experience in old age, irrespective of the circumstances of their earlier lives as adults? This is an argument easy to sustain for children; does it also apply to seniors?
The book provides a clear and readable explanation about why inequality exists, and what the inequalities are, among seniors coping with the common challenges of being old - playing the end game. Understanding the issues helps one come to a position on the ethics. This book is well worth reading by all in our society who are fortunate enough to be able to contribute to a solution, if action is indeed ethically deemed to be needed.
The book provides a clear and readable explanation about why inequality exists, and what the inequalities are, among seniors coping with the common challenges of being old - playing the end game. Understanding the issues helps one come to a position on the ethics. This book is well worth reading by all in our society who are fortunate enough to be able to contribute to a solution, if action is indeed ethically deemed to be needed.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews