I switch to CE now mid-to-late game. SE just fades too much. However, if I go for world domination I stay with farms but stop worrying about tech at some point (unless I go for late-game dom based on large tech disparity...fun times).
Golden ages are very powerful late game and imo are worth the 4 or 5 great people needed to trigger them. It's an enormous impact. With the mausoleum it just becomes insane.
You may recall, I had asked in a thread awhile back about late game SE prior to the release of BtS. In Warlords, I would boom to an enormous tech lead and run out of steam and lose on levels above prince.
Enter BtS. I've played about 5 games running SE (sometimes what I would call a Quasi-SE) and have been absolutely steamrolling Monarch and won my first Emperor game. I don't know why, but it seems to work out. One of the Monarch games I ran a quasi SE with the Financial/Creative Dutch....not the best SE traits, but I felt like trying...and that game turned out probably the best. A few observations.
A. As the AI techs slow.....and Liberalism can get picked up upwards of 1300 A.D......I sandbag it a little earlier. One thing that this leads to is instead of slingshot to the usual Education/Lib/Nationalism...I'll go down another path. In a lot of my SE games...I have not founded any religions or gotten any great prophets. I made it a point to do both. Luckily, in three cases, a city with 6 or 7 forests surrounding it founded my religion. I dumped the Shrine and was sure to spread the religion. The payoff came later...after eventually struggling to get Wall Street (As well as M/B/G) and finally the NP. 7 forests later....mercantile....SoL...and 1 or 2 added Merchants from population leads to 11 Merchants and one heck of a cash cow city.
B. The other effect of Sandbagging a bit on early teching is that I can keep the slider down a bit more, actually involve myself in trading with the other civs, while stockpiling cash so that when I do overtake them, I can keep the slider high.
C. Pyramids used to be pretty much Nice to have...I almost think they are a necessity now. You need those extra beakers sooner than Constitution.
D. Hooking up happiness resources later is a must, because you must not allow yourself forced into emancipation. Ever. There are more ways to get ahold of great Engineers and other specialists late game (e.g. National Park) but still having the freedom to assign scientists and merchants at your leisure is needed.
E. Perhaps the easiest way to win is through Space Race. This may not sit well with some, but Wars are simply brutal with the War Wariness. What I have been doing is buddying up with one of the growing powers while beating on the others. Taking them into extinction in a war more than 25 turns can practically ruin your economy as the unhappy faces add up. Beating them into a point where they are forced to ask your "Buddy" for protection seems preferable. The last game I won.....at one point There was me, My "Buddy" Sitting Bull, and his six Vassels in the game. I kept gifting techs to him the entire late part of the game to keep him from attacking. I polished off two vassels that eventually broke away, and just made sure to keep good relations with him allowing me to virtually ignore military and do things like produce Gold and Science.
F. As your cities start to slow down in growth or reach happy caps....I entirely stagnate them....running as many specialists as I can. This of course, can hurt production as the low food high hammer tiles are the first to go, but things like Dike/Levee and Industrial Park can give a little hammer boost. Mining Inc. is almost a necessity as well.
G. Of course, Specialists need food. I will Beeline Biology at the expense of Military type techs (My "Arrangement" with my friendly civ may be in effect by this time.) and make sure to save a GM(?) for Sids or the Mills to pump more food.
H. No matter what, I try to run Pacificism in the mid game...even during periods of warfare....to keep the GP coming as fast as possible. Oddly, I've found that dumping an academy...something I have not done very much of prior....can also be helpful to crank up the science in the high science cities.
I. Mind you, I actually won one game via space race....1910 on prince without BUILDING a single cottage. I relied mainly on Shrine/Merchant income as well as some Spice/Dye/Gold/Silver resource cities for my cash. When I said I did not BUILD any cottage, I did inherit quite a few from war.
J. Edited. I forgot to mention that I make sure to go after almost all of the "Bonus" GP's at techs like Music. That Artist will pop my first golden age. Subsequent GA and GP (If another shrine will not be helpful) are never settled and always used to power the golden ages. I never hit more than 4 including the Taj Mahal GA.
Obviously there are better players on here with more SE (And simply Civ experience) and most of what I said is mostly already known. I just figured some more observations would help. I think that with some of the added buildings, wonders, and features (Corps, Espionage) that the SE could be alive and well, only with a slightly changed face.
later in the game? Culture slider?
cities capped at 20 helps a lot with 
from WW & Emancipation.
slider remainst my primary weapon against Emancipation.
