The fourth pillar and the UK: flexibility, risk and the deinstitutionalization of the life course

This paper critically examines the concept of flexibility within the context of demographic ageing and the fourth pillar approach. Using the UK as an example, it addresses some of the key strands of policy debate and highlights the importance of the concept of choice. By placing the discussion in the context of the theoretical debate surrounding risk and the deinstitutionalization of the life course, it suggests that policy solutions related to demographic ageing which address the concept of flexibility need to look beyond later years to address the whole of the life course.