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First ISA Forum of Sociology
”Sociological Research and Public Debate”
Barcelona, Spain, September 5 - 8, 2008
Research Committee (RC) 11 on ’Sociology of Aging’
Main theme: ”Diversities of ageing: Discourses and debates”
Demographic ageing and its consequences for our ageing societies and the
people living in them have become popular themes of policy reform, public
debate, and even TV talk shows. Population ageing has indeed become a global
phenomenon – almost all societies worldwide are affected by changes of their
population structures, with a decreasing share of younger people and a
growing proportion of older people living in them.
This change has implications for our future societies: Fewer younger people
mean fewer children and grandchildren, fewer family members and nurses
look-ing after older people in need of care, fewer young workers in the
workplace, they may mean fewer people paying social insurance contributions
and taxes, fewer people using schools and universities, etc. More older
people imply greater numbers of older voters, older consumers, grandparents
and great-grandparents, older workers in the workplace, they may mean more
older people paying taxes and social insurance contributions, living in
poverty and being socially excluded, or studying at university when others
retire, etc.
Population ageing is not necessarily apocalyptic or catastrophic for
individuals, societies and their social systems – it means a changing
balance between older and younger people in society and the challenge of
finding new ways of dealing with each other, of communicating between the
generations, of supporting each other, of social inclusion and social
integration. Ageing can become a risk factor – or an opportunity for
realising new potentials.
Demographic ageing also implies changes in international relations, with
ageing societies ‘importing’ younger care workers, who in turn leave behind
family members in need of care, or attracting younger workers from
disadvantaged re-gions of the world seeking new opportunities. Furthermore,
increasingly individu-alised life courses, even more so in a globalised
world, mean growing “diversities of ageing” – and more diversity in
“discourses and debates” about ageing.
RC11 ‘Sociology of Ageing’ wants to provide a platform for these discourses
and debates on the diversity of ageing. Therefore, we invite abstracts for
papers and abstracts for symposia on any of the topics outlined above or any
other topic related to the RC11 Programme theme “Diversities of Ageing:
Discourses and Debates”. Papers with a cross-national, comparative focus and
papers by researchers earlier in their career are particularly welcomed.
Papers may be presented orally or as a poster.
This call for papers has a deadline for receipt of abstracts by 16 November
2007. Abstracts of a maximum of 200 words should be sent to:
Andreas Hoff, Chair of the Programme Committee, University of Oxford, UK at
[log in to unmask] .
Abstracts MUST include:
Name(s) and affiliation(s) of the author(s)
Contact details of presenting author (postal address, telephone, fax + email)
Title of the proposed presentation
Indicate whether an oral paper or poster presentation
Please note that individuals should not be the first author (the presenter)
of more than one paper.
For more information on the conference see:
http://www.isa-sociology.org/barcelona_2008/rc/rc11.htm
Members of the RC11 Programme Committee: Susan Feldman, Monash University,
Australia; Andreas Hoff, University of Oxford, UK (Chair); Virpi Timonen,
Trinity College Dublin, Ireland; Lucie Vidovicova, Masaryk University, Czech
Republic; and Feliciano Villar, University of Barcelona, Spain.
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Joint Session of
RC 10 (Social Participation, Organizational Democracy and Self-Management)
and RC 11 (Sociology of Aging)
“Aging, social exclusion, and social participation in a globalizing world”
Convenors: Julia Rozanova PhD, University of Alberta (RC10) & Andreas Hoff
PhD, University of Oxford (RC11)
Brief Session Description: This session adopts the concepts of social
exclusion and social participation as a means to explore issues around the
cumulative ef-fects of disadvantages faced by older adults in various
societal contexts world over. The meanings of participation, inclusion, and
exclusion in different spaces and places, their connections to health and
well-being, as well as the structural causes of inequalities in later life,
will be considered. The session means to bring the voices of older people to
the fore in examining the diversity of experiences, causes, and implications
of social exclusion and participation in later life. The private and public
domains including, but not limited to, the family, organizational structure,
the media, and social policy will be explored as the sites of older adults'
resistance and activism against social exclusion.
Session format: The session will be organized as a panel that may include
papers by RC10 and RC11 members, and invited papers from colleagues who work
in this area (who are not yet members in either of the Research Committees).
Pa-pers involving older adults and other community stakeholders and/or
incorporating non-traditional modes of presentation such as drama/enactment
will be welcome alongside traditional academic papers. Papers with a
cross-national, comparative focus and papers by researchers earlier in their
career are particularly welcomed.
This call for papers has a deadline for receipt of abstracts by 16 November
2007. Abstracts of a maximum of 200 words should be sent to:
Julia Rozanova [log in to unmask] AND Andreas Hoff
[log in to unmask] .
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