Jan Baars is Professor of Humanistic Gerontology at the University for Humanistic Studies in Utrecht, and Emeritus Professor of Philosophy of the Social Sciences and the Humanities at Tilburg University, The Netherlands. Jan's previously published books include Aging and the Art of Living and co-edited volumes Ageing, Meaning and Social Structure: Connecting Critical and Humanistic Gerontology; Aging, Globalization and Inequality; and Aging and Time: Multidisciplinary Perspectives.

Long Lives are for the Rich is the title of a silent ominous program that affects the lives of millions of people. In all developed countries disadvantaged and, especially, poor people die much earlier than the most advantaged.

Introduction. The neo-liberal turn against a supportive life course and the US as its tragic champion

Chapter 1. From a supportive to an entrepreneurial organization of the life course

Chapter 2. Long lives are for the Rich...until this backfires

Chapter 3. Main forms and temporal dynamics of social inequality

Chapter 4. Ageism as a form of social Inequality

Chapter 5. Social inequality: from central concern to its marginalization

Chapter 6. Theories about Social Justice and Equality over the Life Course: Looking away from Social Inequality

Chapter 7. Social (In)equality over the Life Course: Pitfalls and Perspectives