Life must be understood as the result of evolution, and human life as the emergence of the species Sapiens from the genus Homo of the family of apes. If the emergence of human life as an evolutionary fact is coupled with the notion of social life, we are referred to the constructive production of human life forms, of which social participation is an integral part. On the one hand, participation is tied back to the phylogenesis of the species Sapiens, but on the other hand, it has to be newly acquired and practiced by every human being in the process of ontogenesis, depending on the environment. Participation in old age is a separate specification of the conditions of this process and can be illustrated on the basis of a large number of empirical findings.
Author(s): Anton Amann
Publisher: Springer VS
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 197
City: Wiesbaden
Preface
Contents
Part I: Idea-Historical and Epistemological Approach
1: Life and the Acting Human Being
1.1 Reservoir of Ideas in Philosophical Anthropology1
1.1.1 Johann G. Herder: The Great Forerunner
1.1.2 Max Scheler: “The Position of Man in the Cosmos”
1.1.3 Helmuth Plessner: “The Stages of the Organic and Man”
1.1.4 Arnold Gehlen: Deficiency Being and Institutional Theory
1.2 Günter Dux: The Epistemological Turn
1.3 Relation of Participation to Evolution
2: General Concept of Participation
2.1 Participation and Integration
2.2 Standard of Living
2.3 Social Policy/Senior Policy: Reconsideration?
2.4 Individual-Environment Relationship
Part II: Social-Gerontological Centering
3: Participation in Growing Old
3.1 The Malaise of a Time-Honoured Dichotomy
3.2 Age Specificity
3.2.1 Age Structure Change
3.2.2 What Does “Ageing” Mean?
3.2.3 Tasks of a Political-Practical Nature
3.2.4 Ageing Is Changing
3.2.5 Sensible Pragmatism
3.2.6 Malfunctions and Restrictions
3.2.7 Mental-Psychological Changes
3.3 Generations Are Interdependent
3.4 Family, Relationships and Generational Solidarity
3.5 Images of Old Age, Past and Present
3.5.1 Definition of Terms
3.5.2 Ancient Images of Old Age
3.5.3 A View of the Middle Ages
3.5.4 The Invention of Old Age as a Social Problem and Economic Burden
3.5.5 The Euphoria Discourse of Old Age as a Counter-Im age
4: A Brief Overview of Historical Forms of Participation in Old Age
4.1 Findings from Ethnology and Cultural History
4.1.1 Knowledge and Seniority Principle
4.1.2 Material Factors and Valuation System
4.1.3 Where Life Is Meager
4.2 Participation in the Age of Industrialisation
4.2.1 Rural Life
4.2.2 The Situation in the Craft Sector
Part III: Empirical Findings from Recent Research
5: Participation: Normative Guidelines and Empirical Findings in Austria
5.1 Self-Determined Life
5.2 Societal Areas of Participation
5.2.1 Economic Participation
5.2.2 Political Participation
5.2.3 Social Participation
5.2.4 Cultural Participation
5.2.5 Contextual Hypotheses on Participation
5.3 Objectives
Part IV: Versatile Interpretations
6: Literary Involvement and Disengagement
6.1 “The Community Child” (Marie v. Ebner-Eschenbach)
6.2 “The Hagestolz” (Adalbert Stifter)
7: About Telling, About Being There and About Structures
7.1 Storytelling in Everyday Life
7.1.1 The Village Regulars’ Table
7.1.2 The Parish Women’s Group
7.2 A Little Philosophy of Old Age, Everyday Life and Interrelationships
7.2.1 Thinking in Contexts
Education
Participation
7.2.2 Regimes and Perspectives in Life
7.3 Signs of Significant Change
8: Structural Disadvantages and Impeded Participation
8.1 Gender-Differentiated Ageing Trajectories in Germany
8.2 Poverty Risks in Europe
8.3 Risk of Poverty in Old Age in Austria
8.4 The Suddenly Narrowed Life
9: Epilogue
References
