Abstract
As attention to the intersection of age and inequality grows among gerontologists, a number of key issues remain to be clarified and resolved, beginning with the definition of inequality and questions of assessment and evaluation. Beyond these basic issues, an increasing range of alternative explanations for the phenomenon of inequality have been proposed. This paper reviews some of the key issues currently in need of clarification. .The initial preoccupation with inequality between age groups and old-age poverty has been supplanted with a concern with inequality within age strata, and its life-course development. Interest in intracohort inequality has been fueled by the recognition that inequality of QOL, health and resource characteristics tend to increase with age, reflecting processes of cumulative dis/advantage and the socioeconomic gradient. While the relevance of social policy and environmental conditions is recognized, increasing attention is being paid to individual resilience as a competing personological hypothesis.