Aging & Social Change: Ninth Interdisciplinary Conference

Abstract

In Europe, economic and social independence in the group of elderly people is perceived as the significant token of their subjective wellbeing as well as active and healthy ageing. Independence is desirable in the societies of (post-socialist) transitive systems like Slovakia and freedom in political, financial and personal decisions is highly valued also among retired individuals. The process of aging is a development process at a high complexity level. It concerns all age categories in population. In the process of aging, the proportion of the elderly grows, motivating change in design of the living environment and social sphere including formal and informal social care. Quality of life in old age is therefore often affected by the quality of social networks. Their functional presence contributes to mutual respect of various generational needs and helps to create a living space for all ages. Their absence leads to social exclusion, feelings of disappointment caused by limited possibility to influence the decisions related to the living conditions foremost for the eldest generation in society. The use of various methods, analysis of censual households of individuals with socio-demographic variables enabling to approach this topic in broader spatial context in combination with qualitative biographical narrative interview as well as semi-structured focused interview and walking interviews, based on the interdisciplinary cooperation of researchers with the background in human geography and social anthropology, enables deep insights into the topic of social networks of seniors and mutual generational social and economic support in modern-day Slovakia.