ABSTRACT
The sudden boom in the productivity discourse within German gerontology, respectively German social sciences being gerontologically influenced, comes as no surprise for us since this shift has been documented for some time. However, productivity in old age is not based on a clear definition (Schroeter, 2004), which, by the way, does not seem to be an isolated German phenomenon (cf. for the United States, Hinterlong, Morrow-Howell, & Sherraden, 2001). Yet substantiations differ nowadays, although they are not absolutely new. In the past, productivity in old age was discussed to improve the image of old age in the society, which was predominantly negative. This especially applied to German gerontological psychology, which yielded, at a very early date, to the creation of positive connections to old age by discussing subjects such as old age potentials, competences of elderly people, and recently, productivity in old age. In doing so, it traditionally concentrated on individual physiological and psychological capacities of elderly people (vs. different contributions in Baltes & Montada, 1996).
