The papers contained in this special issue of the Journal of Population Ageing originated in a session held at the 2014 International Sociological Association Conference, for which we organised a symposium for the Research Committee on Sociology of Aging, sharing the same title as this editorial. The main motivation for the symposium, and for this issue, is the recognition that outcomes in later life are influenced by social advantages and disadvantages over the life course. Of course this is a truism, but understanding the mechanisms through which such life course influences operate, and how context shapes them, is crucial to informing policy aimed at improving outcomes in later life.
