European Economic Restructuring

Abstract

The relationship between economic restructuring in Europe and various aspects of demographic change, such as demographic aging and fertility decline, is examined. The focus is on changes in the labor market. "Changing employment conditions--the growth of the secondary labour market, the flexibilization of labour demand and increasingly also of supply, growing female labour force participation rates, generally high ethnic minority unemployment--reflect different aspects of the transition from the Fordist to the postFordist regime as well as changing demographic and life-style influences. Together they have deeply transformed the European landscape of employment and unemployment. The specific role of international migration is also analysed and it is seen to have fundamentally altered between the Fordist and postFordist eras. Less clear to interpret are changing internal migration patterns: has counterurbanization stopped in response to restructuring and integration and is a new postFordist population map unfolding? The paper concludes by evaluating the nature of the relationship between economic restructuring and population trends and identifying pointers for future research."

Sentimentality and nostalgia in elderly people in Bulgaria and Greece – Cross-validity of the questionnaire SNEP and cross-cultural comparison

“…The average age of the population in Europe is growing older (Durand, 1945; Fernández-Ballesteros, 2005; Fernández-Ballesteros, 2006). The growth of elderly populations in Europe is significant (Blotevogel & King, 1996) and it seems important to study mental commitment to the past among this significant growing part of the population.…”

“…Tenacious goal pursuit in old age is important for experiencing positive affects, and flexible goal adjustment is important for escaping negative emotions (Heyl, Wahl, & Mollenkop, 2007). Flexibility is difficult to be achieved by the elderly, because typically they are conservative (Blotevogel & King, 1996). The elderly people are perceived as having poor health and memory impairment, being rigid and inflexible, with low activity (Fernández-Ballesteros, 2006).…”

“…The elderly people are perceived as having poor health and memory impairment, being rigid and inflexible, with low activity (Fernández-Ballesteros, 2006). They need special health care and old-age assistance (Blotevogel & King, 1996). There is a decrease of cognitive functions, in intellectual functioning in old age, often after 65 years old, such as memory diseases, problems with time orientation (Daatland, 2003; Melekhin, 2015), as well as a small decline of extraversion and positive affects, while emotional loneliness and external locus of control increase (Daatland, 2003).…”

“…Of course, there is a further differentiation, since there are two types of elderly people – some of them (“young old”) are active and economically independent, the others (“old old”) are poor and submissive, often alone, needing medical care (Blotevogel & King, 1996, p. 138). More and more elderly people work because of the changes in the state policy regarding retirement age (Blotevogel & King, 1996).…”

“…More and more elderly people work because of the changes in the state policy regarding retirement age (Blotevogel & King, 1996). Older elderly people could be more sentimental and nostalgic because they are more dependent on their social environment than young olds.…”