Challenges and opportunities for social citizenship in the “third age”.

The aging of Europe is a social phenomenon characterized by decrease in fertility,  increase in mortality rate and higher life expectance - a challenge and opportunity to European social models.

Researchers from different academic backgrounds have tried to describe and analyse aging and different ways of entering the later part of the life course. Due to the increasing life expectancy there has been a need to divide old age in different phases - near-aged (55-64), young-old (65-74), old-old (75-84) and oldest old (85+) or an alternative division of life in four stages - the first is childhood and youth; the second contains the phase of working life and parental activities; the third age is a flexible period that starts with retirement whenever it occurs and continue until the fourth age, normally around the eighties; the fourth age consist increasing fragility and need of support in daily activities. "The Third age" can sometimes be described as “the crown of life”, empathising self-fulfilment, while the Fourth age entails dependency, fragility and death.

The combination of demographic and socioeconomic development has provided the condition for a new kind of “later lifers”. The fact that more people are getting into the third age can be analyzed in many ways. One is to realize that opportunities will arise for new constellations of power groups, groups which create new agendas with new priorities claiming their rights, by law or by m oral obligations. Another question is  to ask in what way people will use their time after retirement – another career, voluntary work,  family support or taking an active part in the community.

The presentation will focus on different aspects of social citizenship like citizen self-responsibility and choice, participation and solidarity during their third age as a preparation for a possibly postponed fourth age.