The Participation of the Elderly as an Aim of Social Work in Austria
The Participation of the Elderly as an Aim of Social Work in Austria

Summary/Abstract: The following article analyses participation possibilities of older people in Austria based on the demographic change. On this basis, categories of work types are established and discussed. This concerns the areas of people’s own work, familial work, informal and formal engagement as well as paid work. The social worker’s attempts to the creation of the informal and formal engagement are presented from an Austrian perspective. Introduced volunteers centres and citizens’ offices devote themselves to the coordination of the engagement within the community. In addition, there are new attempts arising in volunteer’s work, like for example voluntourism. Social inequalities are to be considered in participation within society. Th ese form along the differences of age, gender, levels of education, migration and socio-economic status. Different participation areas are furthermore to be distinguished against the background of a critical discourse around participation. Participation can cause positive eff ects for older people and therefore it seems important to work on its realization. Part of this task is to indicate diff erent barriers and possibilities of implementation. Finally, quantitative proportions and developments in the diff erent working forms of older people will be discussed.

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