Importance and Significance of Post-Occupational Activities for People in Their Third Stage of Life Who Life in Rural Areas 2003

Determining the importance and significance of post-occupational activities for people in their third stage of life who life in rural areas was in the foreground of this project. The definition of a person in their third stage of life was a person who is not in need of care, between 60 and 80 years old and who lives in a private household. The rural area was limited to twelve Upper Austrian towns with a number of inhabitants from 501 to 3,000 (grouped according to the 4 neighbourhoods of Upper Austria).Since the spectrum of post-occupational activities was widespread a typology for post-occupational fields of activity was needed. These fields were:->o activities that are closely linked to the labour market versus those that are not->o productive, social caring activities versus consumptive, ego-centred activities->o public versus private activities General activities (daily chores), chosen extracurricular activities such as sports and consumptive cultural activities were looked at closely to gain a comprehensive insight in post-occupational field of activity.The productive fields of activity in the broader sense can be circumscribed with the term civil social involvement and contain honorary involvement as well as informal help. The surveys that have been conducted up to now on the topic of honorary involvement and its significance for society usually put the emphasis on organised volunteer charity work. Therefore, we thought it important to include help and social involvement which was informal and not organised. We believe that otherwise, elderly peoples contribution to society would be underestimated. Especially informal and unorganised fields of activity shed light on elderly peoples level of integration and participation in society.->gesellschaftlichen Integrations- und Partizipationsgrad älterer Menschen.