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Survival strategies late in life: living conditions of never-married elderly women in Gothenburg in the 1920s

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2015

ANN-KRISTIN HÖGMAN
ANN-KRISTIN HÖGMAN*
Affiliation:
Department of Political, Historical, Religious and Cultural Studies, Karlstad University.
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Abstract

The growing percentage of never-married elderly people led to increasing demographic pressure on Swedish local communities in the beginning of the twentieth century. This article deals with never-married elderly women's income strategies when the idea of self-help dominated social policy. The study uses a prosopographical approach, based on micro-level data. The findings indicate that pooling income sources was of utmost importance for this vulnerable group of elderly women. Furthermore, as a consequence of this demographic change, there was an expansion of charitable organisations specifically aimed at elderly care.

Stratégies de survie tard dans la vie: les conditions de vie des femmes âgées qui ne se sont jamais mariées, à göteborg dans les années 1920

L'augmentation de la proportion de personnes âgées jamais mariées entraîna une pression démographique sur les communautés locales suédoises au début du XXe siècle. Cet article traite des stratégies des femmes âgées, jamais mariées, pour se procurer des revenus à une époque où les politiques sociales étaient dominées par le concept d'auto-assistance. L’étude adopte une approche prosopographique, à partir de micro-données. Les résultats indiquent que mettre des ressources en commun était d'une extrême importance pour cette catégorie de femmes âgées vulnérables. En outre, ce changement démographique entraîna l'expansion d'organisations caritatives se consacrant spécifiquement à aider et soigner les personnes âgées.

Überlebensstrategien im hohen alter: lebensbedingungen zeitlebens unverheirateter älterer frauen in göteborg in den 1920er jahren

Der steigende Prozentsatz zeitlebens unverheirateter Menschen führte zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts in den schwedischen Gemeinden zu steigendem demographischen Druck. Dieser Beitrag befasst sich mit den Einkommensstrategien zeitlebens unverheirateter älterer Frauen zu einer Zeit, als die Sozialpolitik von der Vorstellung der Selbsthilfe beherrscht war. Die Untersuchung verfolgt einen prosopographischen Ansatz, der auf demographischen Mikrodaten fußt. Die Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass es für diese verletzliche Gruppe älterer Frauen besonders wichtig war, unterschiedliche Einkommensquellen zusammenzulegen. Außerdem kam es in Folge dieses demographischen Wandels zu einer Ausweitung der mildtätigen Organisationen, die speziell auf die Altenpflege ausgerichtet waren.

Type
Research Article
Information
Continuity and Change , Volume 30 , Issue 2 , August 2015 , pp. 279 - 300
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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References

ENDNOTES

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