scholarly journals Social Exclusion in Older-Age and the European Pillar of Social Rights

Author(s):  
Maciej Kucharczyk

AbstractThe European Pillar of Social Rights is about delivering new and more effective rights for Europeans. It builds upon 20 key principles, structured around three categories: equal opportunities and access to the labour market; fair working conditions; and social protection and inclusion. Directly relevant to older people, the Pillar has the potential to address the multidimensionality of exclusion in later life from a rights-based perspective – for example, by enhancing the rights to quality and affordable health and long-term care, to adequate pensions to live in dignity, to age-friendly working conditions and an inclusive labour market, or to access goods and services. Despite these valuable elements, there remains significant uncertainly around how the Pillar will achieve this and what kind of implemental actions might emerge across member states. This chapter analyses the potential of the European Pillar to address social exclusion of older people in Europe, the challenges that might impede its efforts, and the measures necessary to overcome such challenges.

Societies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 12
Author(s):  
Paul Higgs ◽  
Chris Gilleard

This paper is concerned with the issue of ageism and its salience in current debates about the COVID-19 pandemic. In it, we address the question of how best to interpret the impact that the pandemic has had on the older population. While many feel angry at what they see as discriminatory lock-down practices confining older people to their homes, others are equally concerned by the failure of state responses to protect and preserve the health of older people, especially those receiving long-term care. This contrast in framing ageist responses to the pandemic, we suggest, arises from differing social representations of later life, reflecting the selective foregrounding of third versus fourth age imaginaries. Recognising the tension between social and biological parameters of ageing and its social categorisations, we suggest, may offer a more measured, as well as a less discriminatory, approach to addressing the selective use of chronological age as a line of demarcation within society.


2002 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 695-713 ◽  
Author(s):  
PETER LLOYD-SHERLOCK

The paper examines social protection for older people in three middle-income countries: Argentina, Thailand and South Africa. It focuses on income support, health services and the provision of care, as well as considering the effects of these policies on social exclusion. The paper locates each country's different social protection programmes within a broader welfare regime model. It finds an interesting variety of approaches to pension and health provision, which range from generous universalism to minimal means-testing. However, it finds much less innovation in areas such as long-term care and intermediary services. The paper challenges generalisations about old age social protection in developing countries, and argues that the different experiences of these three countries could provide useful lessons for social protection in many parts of the world.


Author(s):  
Audrey Laporte ◽  
Adrian Rohit Dass ◽  
Whitney Berta ◽  
Raisa Deber ◽  
Katherine Zagrodney

This chapter analyses the labour market for Personal Support Workers (PSWs). It focuses on Canada as an illustrative case. The literature suggests that, while it is helpful to consider the PSW labour market as a whole from a neo-Weberian perspective, it is better thought of as a series of sub-markets – comprising the hospital, long-term care, and home and community care sectors. These may differ in terms of such factors as wages, benefits, hours worked and working conditions, as well as in the socio-demographic characteristics of PSWs working in each care sector. To the extent that sectoral differences in PSW characteristics affect labour supply behaviours and outcomes – as, for example, in creating differences in the proportion of PSWs nearing retirement age – the heterogeneous nature of the PSW labour market is an important consideration in resource planning. The chapter also explores how PSWs compare to other health professions such as nursing, and makes select references to the international PSW literature in charting a forward course.


2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 869-895 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thurid Eggers ◽  
Christopher Grages ◽  
Birgit Pfau-Effinger ◽  
Ralf Och

AbstractThis article explores how far the concepts of de-familialisation/familialisation are adequate to the classification of long-term care (LTC) policies for older people. In the theoretical debate over LTC policies, de-familialising and familialising policies are often treated as opposites. We propose re-conceptualising the relation between de-familialisation and familialisation, arguing that they represent substantially different types of policy that, in theory, can vary relatively autonomously. In order to evaluate this theoretical assumption, this article investigates the relation between the generosity level of LTC policies on extra-familial care, and the generosity level of LTC policies on paid family care, introducing a new multi-dimensional approach to measuring the generosity of LTC policy for older persons. It also explores the consequences of this for gender equality. The empirical study is based on a cross-national comparison of LTC policies in five European welfare states which show significant differences in their welfare state tradition. Data used are from document analysis of care policy law, the Mutual Information System on Social Protection, the European Quality of Life Survey and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The findings support the argument that de-familialising and familialising LTC policies can vary relatively independently of each other in theory. It turns out that we get a better understanding of the relationship between LTC policy and gender equality if we analyse the role of different combinations of extra-familial and familial LTC policies for gender equality. The paper brings new insights into the ways welfare states act in regard to their LTC policies. It helps to clarify how the concept of de-familialisation/familialisation can be understood, and what this means for the relationship between LTC policies and gender equality.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zijing Wang ◽  
Wenjia Peng ◽  
Mengying Li ◽  
Xinghui Li ◽  
Tingting Yang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Functional disability and multimorbidity are common among older people. However, little is known about the relationship between functional disability and different multimorbidity combinations. We aimed to identify multimorbidity patterns and explore the associations between these patterns and functional disability. Methods We investigated a multi-stage random sample of 1871 participants aged ≥60 years and covered by long-term care insurance in Shanghai, China. Multimorbidity was defined as the simultaneous presence of two or more chronic diseases in an individual. Participants completed scales to assess basic and instrumental activities of daily living (BADL and IADL, respectively). Multimorbidity patterns were identified via exploratory factor analysis. Binary logistic regression models were used to determine adjusted associations between functional disability and number and patterns of multimorbidity. Results Multimorbidity was present in 74.3% of participants. The prevalence of BADL disability was 50.7% and that of IADL disability was 90.7%. There was a strong association between multimorbidity and disability. We identified three multimorbidity patterns: musculoskeletal, cardio-metabolic, and mental-degenerative diseases. The cardio-metabolic disease pattern was associated with both BADL (OR 1.28, 95%CI 1.16–1.41) and IADL (OR 1.41, 95%CI 1.19–1.68) disability. The mental-degenerative disease pattern was associated with BADL disability (OR 1.55, 95%CI 1.40–1.72). Conclusions Multimorbidity and functional disability are highly prevalent among older people covered by long-term care insurance in Shanghai, and distinct multimorbidity patterns are differentially associated with functional disability. Appropriate long-term healthcare and prevention strategies for older people may help reduce multimorbidity, maintain functional ability, and improve health-related quality of life.


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