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The Future of Ageing Societies
The Future of Ageing Societies
Wednesday, 18 July 2018: 08:30-10:20
Location: 204 (MTCC NORTH BUILDING)
RC11 Sociology of Aging (host committee) Language: English
Populations have been ageing for decades, and researchers agree that this trend will continue into the future. Because of this demographic shift, societies are changing. For example, pension reforms and health care reforms are introduced, workplaces are restructured, care arrangements within families are re-negotiated, new products and services are developed, and new identities and cultures emerge. Previous research extensively documented such changes that occurred in the past. However, studies on how these changes may continue into the future are few. The scarceness of futures-oriented research on ageing societies is unfortunate, considering the benefits such research can create: policymakers can use it to decide which reforms are most urgent, health care providers can use it to modify services ahead of changing demands, researchers can use it to align their research with emerging social problems, and individuals can use it to plan for their own old age.
This regular session brings together quantitative, qualitative and conceptual studies that consider the future of ageing societies in one or multiple countries. Examples for topics that can be discussed within this session are:
- the future progression of population ageing,
- future social change caused by population ageing,
- how pension, health care and long-term care policies need to be reformed in the future because of population ageing,
- how population ageing will affect families in the future,
- the identities and values of the next generations of older people, and
- how we could best study the future of ageing societies.
Session Organizer:
Oral Presentations
Distributed Papers