Work after 45? Proceedings from a scientific conference held in Stockholm 22-25 September 1996. Volume 2

Abstract

These two volumes contain a selection of the contributions presented during the international conference "Work after 45?" on September 22-25, 1996 in Stockholm, Sweden. The conference was jointly organized by The National Institute for Working Life and the Department of Sociology, University of Göteborg. The conference dealt with broad issues related to ageing and work, including relationships among ageing, work demands and health. The themes selected and highlighted at the conference concerned issues of ageing at work and, in particular, the impact of social, economic and organizational factors on health and psychological and social functioning. These issues are now more important than ever due to the ongoing changes in labour markets throughout the world, that carry with them implications for the labour market prospects of the ageing work force. An inter-disciplinary scope was sought in composition of programme sessions, workshops and mini-symposia involving participant researchers active in biomedical, behavioural and social sciences. The selection of presentations for publication was based on a review of all papers, carried out by the international scientific committee commissioned by the organizers. The conference was organized as a blend of plenary sessions, workshops, minisymposia and free paper sessions following a pragmatically composed structure of themes and disciplines. At the outset of editing these proceedings we wanted to follow this structure and the course of the conference programme as it actually materialized. This idea was soon abandoned, however, since it was judged not to provide the reader with a satisfactory framework. In many sessions the papers, as they were actually presented, emphasized aspects which were also dealt with in other sessions, emphasizing the multidiciplinary nature of many contributions. We therefore decided on a simple logic of editing the proceedings with contributions ordered alphabetically by name of first author. We were fortunate to have three key-note lecturers of great distinction participating in the conference, professors Peter F Hjort (Norway), Alan Walker (UK) and Timothy Salthouse (USA). Their three addresses have been included unabridged in the proceedings books, with only a minimum of technical editing. Our thanks are due to all those who participated in the "Work after 45?" conference, all who submitted papers to be included in these proceedings, the international scientific committee members reviewing all papers, Gunnar Aronsson (Sweden), Willem J A Goedhard (Netherlands), Juhani Ilmarinen (Finland), Jon Eivind Kolberg (Norway), Jette Nielsen, (Denmark), Clas Håkan Nygård (Finland), Carl N¿rregaard (Denmark), Gunnar Olofsson (Sweden), Per Erik Solem (Norway) and Eskil Wadensjö (Sweden). We also wish to thank the Swedish Council for Work Life Research, the Swedish Council for Social Research, and the Nordic Council of Ministers, for their support. Most important, we thank all those who contributed to the conference for presenting their experiences and views, and subjecting them to scrutiny during exchanges with colleagues. We think that the results of this sharing of knowledge and insights in this research field will be of great practical and political importance and will have direct implications on life at work of the elderly work-force. Åsa Kilbom, Peter Westerholm and Lennart Hallsten National Institute for Working Life. Bengt Furåker University of Göteborg.