Article: Age, Law, and Political Economy

This Article examines the intersection of age, class, and the law. Its central claim is that age is an essential dimension for the analysis of law and political economy. There are two primary reasons why. First, age is embedded in a large body of legal rules that structure the labor market and address vulnerabilities associated with particular life stages. Child labor laws set minimum ages for entry into the workforce, while social welfare laws use age eligibility criteria to shape the material conditions for older adults. Second, age and its sibling concept, generation, indirectly shape economic and political relations by legitimating unequal labor market practices and disrupting class-based politics. In conjunction with status hierarchies based on race, sex, and other characteristics, age-based status hierarchies help to define lower-status groups and to justify their labor market exploitation. At the same time, intergenerational conflict serves to displace class anxieties on to age and generation, distorting political debates and hindering solidarity among those with similar economic interests. By highlighting the role of age in law and political economy, this Article contributes to the emerging law and political economy literature and enriches the field of age and the law by centering questions of economic equality.