ABSTRACT
No society can escape population ageing. This demographic phenomenon has profound social consequences on the lifestyles of individuals and societies. In the light of the accelerated ageing of the Mediterranean area, the analyses which inform this work aim to understand how the age-related policies of Nation-States are partly responsible for the behaviours of the generations. They also highlight how the lifestyle changes are the result of trends which are common to these societies. The Mediterranean area constructed here by the researchers offers an in-depth reflection on the national cases presented, in terms of their specificities or societal singularities, as well as of their dynamics of convergence.
Drawing on empirical research in sociology, demography, geography and economics, exploiting the most recent data available and setting the present in historical perspective, Ageing, Lifestyles and Economic Crises studies Mediterranean societies in relation to three major challenges which they now confront. These are: population ageing and its implications in terms of intergenerational family support relationships; increasingly insecure adult professional trajectories and their consequences for the evolution of social gender roles, in an economic context commonly referred to as a 'crisis'; and lastly the role of Nation-States' public policies in the social reproduction of these gender inequalities.
These three issues are the keystone to understanding the ongoing transformations in the lifestyles and life cycles of Mediterranean societies. This volume marshals a wealth of recent data that will be useful not only to many academics and scientists but also to local and national policy-makers.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|94 pages
Mediterranean disparities and convergences
chapter 4|20 pages
Half a century of ageing in France
part II|84 pages
Contours of familial solidarities and change in multigenerational societies in the Mediterranean
chapter 5|17 pages
Public policies towards the family in Italy
chapter 8|24 pages
Family mutual support in multigenerational France
part III|86 pages
Uncertainties in gender relations in the Mediterranean