Transforming Elderly Care at Local, National and Transnational Levels

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