Metodologiczne wyzwania badania kompetencji medialnych i cyfrowych generacji 50+

Author(s): Dominika Czerniawska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 03/2014

In recent years the research on digital skills, media literacy, and social aspects of ICT has grown in significance. The 50+ generation is a group of special interest in this field, as it is especially threatened by the digital divide. The experience gained so far and the results of conducted research suggest possible need for a reconsideration of methodological issues. Research methods have been dominated by surveys and individual in‑depth interviews. Both of these have limits and constraints which may influence the interpretation of results and the conclusions drawn from the research. Some research contexts show that operationalization of digital skills and media literacy appears to be problematic. Conclusions from the analysis indicate a need for adjusting research tools, especially by expanding them through the addition of practical tasks.

Historyczno społeczne aspekty starzenia się i starości, red. Małgorzata Stawiak-Ososińska i Agnieszka Szplit, Agencja Reklamowa TOP – Drukarnia Cyfrowa, Kielce 2014

Author(s): Bożena Zboina / Language(s): Polish Issue: 26/2015

A Book Review

From Early Retirement to Active Ageing: Social Inequalities in the Transition from Work to Retirement

Author(s): Dirk Hofäcker,Stefanie König,Moritz Hess / Language(s): English Issue: Special/2017

European pension policies have undergone a fundamental change throughout the last 20 years from promoting early retirement to extending working lives. Following recent labour market data, it seems as if the efforts are successful in delaying older workers’ labour force exit and increasing their employment rate. Although this development is found across Europe, its extent varies largely by the country context. In addition, it also differs between social groups, hinting at a persistence (or even re-emergence) of social inequalities in the transition to retirement. Comparative evidence from the European labour force survey for fours elected country case studies suggests that already privileged groups benefit most from the policy shift, while low-skilled workers are struggling to extend their working lives in often hard working conditions.

От съставителя

Author(s): Ilia Iliev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2020

Старостта във византийско-балканския свят

Author(s): Yoanna Bencheva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2020

The article examines the notions of old age in the Byzantine-Balkan Middle Ages. It attempts at defining when does old age come and which are its characteristics. The study searches for answers to the questions: what kind of care for the elderly people did the institutions and the family provide; what sort of food and medical care wereappropriate for them; what was the attitude of society towards the elderly people andwas there any difference between representatives of various social groups.

„Не можах да се намеря в свои води“ – конструиране на идентичности и самонаследяване в старостта

Author(s): Denica Nencheva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2020

The article presents part of a study on the Armenian population in the city of Plovdiv focusing on a particular character – a woman of age who holds a peculiar position of (self-)exclusion from the community. Her “small“ biographical story develops manoeuvring between the “big“ stories such as the historical faith of the Armenian nation and the socialist regime in Bulgaria. This is a story that refers to the problems of old age, recollection and reliving the past. The article attempts at explicate some of the specific ways in which the narrative of the personal identity is constructed parallel to those of the community in the city and the Armenian heritage in general. In order to achieve this, the analysis is based on post-Bourdieu socio-analysis of self inheritance.

Пенсионерските клубове: полезна за остаряването формална форма на неформални отношения

Author(s): Ivelina Eftimova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2020

The article is focused on the retirement clubs as a form of organization of pensioners established during socialism and still existing today. The first part of the study examines the preliminary goals, organization and activities of the retirement clubs while the second concentrates on the changes and problems which occurred after1989, the founding of the Union of Pensioners in Bulgaria, the attempts at expanding the network of clubs in order to protect the interests and their situation today. The retirement clubs are an object of interest for a great part of the pensioners in Bulgaria who need an organized type of communication similar to the one they were used to during their professional life at a mature age. The models of social life at the place of work established during socialism are similar to those imposed in childhood. They are succeeded by the retirement clubs, in whose institutionalized community the generation shaped in the 1930s – 1950s and possessing steady specifics fits easily. This community offers successful models of socialization during individual ageing but cannot exist in this form in practice without the support of the state or municipal institutions.

Даниела Колева (Съст.) Възрастта при социализма. Поколения в семейството и обществото. София: ЦАИ, 2019

Author(s): Ilia Iliev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2020

The development of social services for elder people in Romania: the European funds apport

Author(s): Manuela Sofia Stănculescu,Monica Marin / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 2/2019

This paper analyzes the European-funded projects developing social services for the elderly in Romania, implemented in the programming period of 2007–2013. The analyses included in the study are based on a desk research and a secondary analysis of data published by the Ministry of European Funds. In addition, a census of projects funded by the Regional Operational Program (POR) contracted by public institutions and including objectives about elderly people was carried out. This latter data source shows that social services for the elderly funded by European funds are mainly located in the urban area. By development region, most of the contracts are located in the North-East and South-East development regions. Municipalities with a high fiscal capacity absorbed most of the European funds aimed at social services for the elderly, with the Regional Operational Program of 2007–2013. Regarding administrative capacity, most of the municipalities with this type of projects had by the end of 2009 specialized personnel – at least one person trained in drafting European funded projects. Sustainability of social services for the elderly people is problematic especially for the municipalities with a low fiscal capacity, but also for institutions at county level. The public institutions developing social services for the elderly funded by European projects recommend conducting studies for a better knowledge and adjustment of projects to the needs of the elderly people.

Остаряващите родители на трудови мигранти (по примера на възрастните от Белоградчик)

Author(s): Svetlana Antova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2020

The article aims at marking and analysing the aspects of the impact of labour mobility on the elderly parents and relatives who have remained in Bulgaria. The subject of the study is elderly people whose children and close ones are labour migrants. The group researched is from Belogradchik in Northwest Bulgaria – a region that in the last thirty years constantly sends internal and external migrants as a result of the deep economic and social changes in our society. The article analyses some of the main problems before the elderly people in the small town resulting directly from or related to migratory processes. The group researched includes pensioners (one or two in a family); in the cases with one person in the family, usually, this is the wife. In terms of methodology, the study searches for answers to the questions related to ageing and international migration – two of the main social tendencies from the point of view of ethnology.

Czynniki determinujące wydatki gospodarstw domowych emerytów na rekreację i kulturę

Author(s): Iwona Bąk / Language(s): Polish Issue: 01/2013

The aim of article is to select a set of variables that affect decisions about the size of the expenditure incurred on recreation and culture in households of pensioners in Poland. The basis of the information of researches were unidentifiable microdata on income and expenditure of individual households from the household budget survey conducted in 2009 by the GUS (Central Statistical Office) which were associated with the results of a survey “Tourism and recreation in households” conducted by the GUS in the same year. The integrated data set consisted of 1,308 households of pensioners. The study takes into account, first of all, the categorization variables and therefore to a “best"”set of factors characterizing household spending on recreation and culture used log-linear analysis. Using log-linear model has enabled more precise description of the relationships between categorization variables compared with indicators used to assess the quality characteristics of interdependence. In addition, log-linear analysis allowed to assess the impact of interactions between variables.

Możliwości analizy sytuacji materialnej gospodarstw domowych osób starszych w Europie Środkowej i Wschodniej

Author(s): Jolanta Perek-Białas / Language(s): Polish Issue: 12/2012

The article discusses the possibilities, as well as the limitations of the analysis of the elderly households material situation (single-person households aged 65+ and double with at least one person aged 65+) in selected countries of Central and Eastern Europe: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary – belonging to the EU in 2004 as well as Bulgaria and Romania – in the EU since 2007. The study uses selected results of the analysis made on the basis of the EU-SILC (European Union – Statistics on Income and Living Conditions). Significant differences in the financial situation of elderly households in different countries of Central and Eastern Europe were observed on the basis of the data analysis on housing facilities in some material good as well as subjective assessment of financial situation of the households.

Reviews

Author(s): Adriana Bożek-Ociepa,Izabela Glińska,Marta Kamińska,Liliana Zarychta / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2019

The review of: 1) Farber K., Armaline W. (2009). Democracy, improvisation and schooling reform. “Zarządzanie Publiczne”, 4 (4): 43–51. 2) Ameri F., Vazifeshenas N., Haghparast A. (2017). The impact of audio book on the elderly mental health. “Basic and Clinical Neuroscience”, 8 (5): 361–370. 3) Healy K. (2014). Social Work Theories in Context. Creating Frameworks for Practice. 2nd ed. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke. 4) Puntervold Bo B. (2014). Social work in a multicultural society: New challenges and needs for competence. “International Social Work”, 1–13, DOI : 10.177/0020872814550114.

Demografske promjene i mirovinski sustavi u Europskoj uniji: primjer Hrvatske

Author(s): Ante Samodol / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 1/2021

The paper relates the issues of general depopulation and population ageing within existing and new pension systems in a changing macroeconomic environment of the European Union. At the EU level, the paper analyses and presents demographic factors and the consequences of demographic and macroeconomic trends. The demographic and economic assumptions upon which most existing EU pension systems are based have changed significantly. The paper researches the case of Croatia: natural growth and migration balance as demographic potential, and changes in the working population as economic potential. Unlike official public policies, it is suggested here that low employment is not a problem of demographics or pensions, but mostly an economic one. Croatia's pension potential is studied on employment distribution, wages, and pensions. Using empirical data, levels of inequality in employment and wages were calculated. In addition to low salaries and pensions, Gini coefficients show that Croatia has no inequality in the distribution of wages and that it has moderate levels of inequality in the distribution of pension payments in Pillar II and Pillar I. It was also found that Croatia does not use the available demographic potential to fulfil its economic potential through higher productivity, employment, wages and pensions, and that a significant problem lies in the material deprivation of the population. According to the Croatian experience, demographic problems are declarative and cannot be solved separately and outside the context of the pension system. Negative demographic trends are most often directly related to the deficits of the pension system, while pension problems and reforms are justified only by negative demographic trends, which closes the circle, and the problems persist.

Seniorzy jako konsumenci prywatnych usług zdrowotnych

Author(s): Beata Nowotarska-Romaniak,Julita Czyżewska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 3/2018

The objective of the paper is to analyze the elderly customer segment (above 65 years old) as the consumers of private health services. The demographic and social characteristics of elderly people are presented in terms of such factors as: life expectancy, education level, income, professional activity, as well as objective and subjective assessment of health condition. The paper covers also the consumer needs and behaviors of seniors in the area of health services in recent years, i.e. the frequency and type of services utilized and the structure of expenditures allocated for this purpose. Then, in relation to the services guaranteed by the public system, a comparison of the commercial product offer for the elderly is made. The last part of the article touches the aspect of development of the product offer for the elderly, especially with the use of telemedical solutions.

THE UNSEEN FACES OF THE COMMUNIST NOMENCLATURE. ELEMENTS OF ORAL HISTORY (II)

Author(s): Vlad Ovidiu Cioacă / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2020

This article concentrates on the topic of communist nomenclature from the perspective of oral history. The approach is located at the intersection of three epistemic fields: historiography, sociology and social psychology. To begin with, we will sketch the historical context considered and we will take from the sociology of politics a series of theoretical frameworks to define the communist nomenclature. We considered it imperative to consult the ”key witnesses” of the exponents of targeted socio-political category, who provided us with ”first-hand” information about the reality they lived and built. We have identified two prominent members of the local structures of the Romanian Communist Party and conducted ”life story” interviews. We aimed to capture the way and the extent to which the subjects remember the events from their own biography that took place during the communist period and how these memories gained new meanings over time. We have also tried to get new details about the functioning of the party apparatus and the ”backstage” of power before 1989. The limits of the research represent the very small size of the investigated group, which consists of only two subjects, and the limitations of any interpretive approach in the category of ”life story”: selective memory, cognitive distortions, inability to separate personal truth from factual truth, etc. At the same time, we will try to supplement their testimonies with the memory of their victims regarding the communist nomenclature. However, we believe that the present research brings to light new perspectives to approach the old nomenclature, which can generate working hypotheses for large-scale research, based mainly on the analysis of social documents. The value of the interviews consists in the fact that the subjects were part of the communist repression forces, being also a confession of the acts committed against those who opposed the communization of the country, ”of the bandits”. It is the moment when, after 50 years of communism, the executioners really meet their victims, acknowledging the immense harm caused to society.

Самота и удовлетвореност от живота при потребители на социални услуги в напреднала и старческа възраст

Author(s): Ginka Mehandzhiyska / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2015

The research summarizes estimation of the experience rate of loneliness and life satisfaction in a sample of individual cases of older adults – users of social services. The empirical analysis shows significant negative correlation between loneliness and satisfaction variables. It can be concluded that interventions for supporting the quality of personal contacts and profound intimacy are much more essential in the gerontological social work from those interventions that focus on expanding, diversifying and growth of relationships in a quantitative aspect. The utilized research tools can be applied in practical social work for differential assessment of the rate of life satisfaction and social functioning. This way in the individual assessment it is possible to be distinguished areas of stability and satisfaction from those with unsatisfied needs, deficiency and dysfunctioning.

DEMNITATEA ȘI DREPTURILE OMULUI ÎN CAZUL GRUPURILOR EXPUSE RISCULUI DE EXCLUZIUNE

Author(s): Simion Belea / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 1/2021

Setting off from the origins and main historical-sociological theories of human dignity, this article centers on the importance of acknowledging and respecting the rights of some of the most affected categories of vulnerable groups today,namely: people with disabilities, refugees, and the elderly. Dignity, perceived as the main ethical value and source of any human right, has crystallized in the social and collective thinking of recent generations, becoming a „reminder” of responsibility for each state. In this context, this article brings to the fore both the issue of human vulnerability and suffering, as well as the need to reconsider the attitude towards caring relationships for these categories of people.

Integrative Elderly Care Model as a Part of a Changing Long-Term Care and Welfare State in Slovakia

Author(s): Jana Šolcová,Andrea Seberíni,Miroslava Tokovská / Language(s): English Issue: 77/2022

The aim of this article is to describe and discuss the key challenges of social and healthcare services in Slovakia, focusing on the Integrative Elderly Care Model as part of a changing welfare state. It also examines the opportunities and challenges related to the transformation of community-based social and healthcare services. The Slovak welfare state has undergone several revisions during the last decade; so too has the elderly care sector, which is a combination of public and non-government organisations. Elderly citizens, however, remain in a precarious situation. The trend toward marketisation and re-familiarisation of elderly care ‘go towards the EU average’, indicating an increase in public social expenditure directed towards aging.

Младите на село: резиденцията като експериментална форма на съживяване на селата

Author(s): Sarah Craycraft / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2022

Village-based intergenerational residencies in Bulgaria offer young, urban people a chance to experience village lifeways and connect with elderly village residents. The presence of such residencies appears not just to signify interest in villages as offering an alternative lifestyle, but interest in the cultural significance and sense of loss tied to village life. This article analyzes three such residencies, Granny Residence, AcceptMe in the Village, and Borrowed Village. These experimental, aspirational forms of revitalization allow participants to “play village”, adding a fascinating dimension to the larger wave of urbanites who see potential in rural spaces. Drawing on participant observation and subject-centred interviews, I compare the features of these projects and suggest that attention to residencies as forms of interaction that provide symbolic connections to rural places and people allows for a deeper understanding of what is at stake in revitalization work.