Active Ageing: Origins and Resurgence

Abstract

This book explores the recent pension and unemployment policy developments for older people in EU15 nations with a view to determining whether there has been a shift towards the EU’s ‘active ageing’ agenda in all nations and for all sub-groups within the ‘older age’ cohort. As such it begins by examining the development of the concept of ‘active ageing’ before presenting arguments regarding its resurgence in the 1990s. It therefore discusses the demographic pressures faced by current welfare arrangements and the potential intergenerational conflict that may arise as a result, as well as situating the active ageing agenda within the broader shifts towards either the recommodification of labour or the inclusion of older individuals in the ‘reserve army of labour’. Though this chapter will explore some of the potential explanations for focus on ‘active ageing’, it seeks to provide an introduction to these debates as opposed to a definitive answer or identify a causal relationship; this book instead aims to address the extent to which EU15 nations have subscribed to the EU’s vision of policies for older individuals.