The aging of the European population represents a challenge for the current systems of social care services and in particular for the availability of individualized formal social care for older people. This article looks at 8 Central European countries and explores the contextual factors that boost or inhibit the development of these services, identifies the most important among them, and describes the specific contexts that are conducive to the development of social care services for older adults. Qualitative and quantitative data from Eurostat and the international project Housing and Home Care for the Elderly and Vulnerable People and Local Partnership Strategies in Central European Cities were analyzed using multidimensional scaling and multiple correspondence analysis. The results indicate that the availability and variety of social care services are above all linked to economic indicators, the age structure of the population, and un/employment rates. Moreover, the contextual factors tend to have a combined influence on the social care system. These findings imply that before restructuring the systems of social care services, local governments should take into consideration the simultaneous effect of multiple factors. However, the exploratory results of this study need to be verified in a larger number of diverse countries.
The aim of this article is to provide insight into the circumstances of long-term unemployed graduates of (mostly) non-GCSE vocational programmes from the perspective of their transition to adulthood. The analytical framework used for this research is life course theory, according to which it is possible to approach the transition from youth to adulthood as a multiple transition. This point corresponds well with reality because young people follow at least three trajectories on their way to adulthood: from school to work, from family of origin to family of procreation, and from dependence to independence. The data necessary for the analysis were collected through repeated biographical and semi-structured interviews with 14 long-term unemployed graduates of non-GCSE vocational programmes and 6 employed graduates of vocational programmes as a reference group. Their implicit theories of adulthood, progress on the path to adulthood, and everyday strategies were examined in a qualitative data analysis, with special attention paid to contextual aspects. As for the dominant form of transition, the author found that long-term unemployment has a delaying impact on the transition to adulthood, above all owing to fi nancial strain. These people suffer from prolonged economical dependency on their parents and remain at the threshold of the socially constructed path to adulthood. Typically there social status is vague.
In the early 1960s, the life course theory emerged as one of the fundamental concepts in the domain of social sciences in Europe and North America. Since that time, this perspective has provided a new theoretical approach to understanding social reality with important methodological implications. On the basis of the life course theory, individual lives are studied in their whole -from birth to death. Furthermore, life course theory takes into account both macro and micro levels of social reality, so that the dynamic relationship between the individual and society can be examined. Individuals are thus seen as active and creative agents able to shape their lives.Nevertheless, the life course perspective is not yet well known among Czech social scientists. Therefore the main aim of this article is to introduce life course theory into this geographical zone. First, we briefly describe the genesis of the concept. Then we point out that the term "life course" used to be applied in a variety of meanings in scientific literature, which sometimes causes difficulties in understanding its content. We have identified three levels of application of the term "life course": as a paradigm, as an analytical concept and as a social institution. These lines of meaning are elaborated here with a special focus on their definitions, key notions and methodological consequences. Finally, in the case of the life course as an institution, we discuss its evolution in the context of postindustrial societies.
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