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First call for Papers for Conference
“TRANSFORMING ELDERLY CARE AT LOCAL, NATIONAL AND TRANSNATIONAL LEVELS “
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE AT EIGTVEDS PAKHUS, COPENHAGEN, 26-28 JUNE 2008
Organised by University of Vechta, the Danish National Centre of Social
Research (SFI), University of Aarhus, and the German Sociological
Association, Section “Ageing and Society” .
Call for Papers, First Announcement
Since the 1980s elderly care has been subject to welfare state
restructuring across many countries. Demographic and socio-economic
changes have challenged the existing forms of and policy approaches to
elderly care. At the same time, transformations of this kind have emerged
against the background of fundamental criticisms of the welfare state and
persistent economic constraints. Significantly, such transformations are
also closely connected to transnational flows of ideas and best practices,
but which have to be adapted within national frameworks and at local
levels.
More specifically, the transformation of elderly care occurs in relation
to a number of dimensions. There is a restructuring of formal care
delivery, often prompted by New Public Management reforms, and this
restructuring includes the reshuffling of the interplay between different
sectors of service provision, especially informal care. Such restructuring
processes are embedded in local and national contexts, which are often
specific to individual countries. The interplay between the two contexts
itself is changing in the face of demands for greater public
accountability and for locally tailored services. The transformations of
the formal/informal and the local/national interfaces also impact on care
workers. For example, the introduction of different kinds of cash benefits
affects the division of labour with informal family care.
The transnational migration of care workers adds a new dimension to
ongoing transformations and to varying degrees offers a ‘private solution’
to changes in societies and associated care dilemmas. Importantly,
national care regimes - with their specific constellation of ideas,
institutions and stakeholders - act as a filter for the effect of
migration
Elderly care is clearly undergoing fundamental transformations. How such
transformations are playing out in practice remains unclear, thus
necessitating further theoretical and empirical investigation. The
conference explores the dynamics and contexts of these transformations
through a number of key themes:
- New interfaces between formal and informal elderly care
- Shifting local and national contexts of elderly care
- Changes in elderly care and implications for care workers
- Elderly care, migration and national care regimes
Keynote speakers include Dr. Giovanni Lamura (Italy), Prof. Caroline
Glendinning (UK), Prof. Dr. Birgit Pfau-Effinger (Germany) and Prof. Marta
Szebehely (Sweden).
We invite papers who address these and other issues related to changes in
elderly care either in a single country or in a comparative perspective.
All disciplines are welcome. We especially encourage submissions from PhD
students. The deadline for submitting an abstract of no more than 250
words is 30 January 2008.
Please consult the conference website for further information,
www.sfi.dk/transformingcare
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