Social Security in Ageing Societies in a Sustainable Development Perspective. The Analysis of Context Indicator of Ways of Organizing Life in Old Age in Poland

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of a context indicator of integrated order, such as ways of organising one's life in old age, on social security issues. In the framework of ageing society it concerns the problems of socio-demographic determinants of life choices in old age, which are of the key importance for the sense of social security. Authors explore the results of the research on the representative sample of 1006 adult Poles, which has been carried out using the quantitative method -the diagnostic survey based on a questionnaire survey technique-in 2020. The preferred ways of organising one's life in old age were measured in five areas on the basis of the proprietary six-point nominal scale. The applied methodology helped to explore the preferences of the adult Poles regarding the forms of one's life organisation in old age and to study the determinants of the choices made. The analysis used contingency coefficients -V-Cramer and Phi -to determine the strength of the relationship between the nominal variables assigned to the social security areas under study. The Chi-square test was used to determine the relationship between the studied areas of social security and age groups. The sociological approach in measuring the selected context indicator of integrated order in the sustainable development paradigm has been strongly emphasised by authors. The findings suggest that ways of organising one's life in old age are key factors for the sustainability of social security in ageing societies.

Designing Robots for Elderly from the Perspective of Potential End-Users: A Sociological Approach

“…Older people require special individual and social care. On the other hand, we are observing rising social expectations of the elderly to improve their quality of life [ 6 , 10 ]. Technological development provides an interesting backdrop to such debates [ 9 , 24 , 35 ].…”

“…What is important, the previous findings suggested that highly smart robots seemed to be the least acceptable by older people, and elderly often raise many ethical considerations on age-friendly robots [ 3 ]. A separate field of studies is the literature on the ethical risks posed by the rapid development of new technologies for different categories of users [ 10 , 13 , 37 ]. The list of new potential social risks is growing exponentially [ 28 , 29 , 30 ].…”

“…In the only quantitative study on humanoid acceptance, the authors used more general questions about people’s attitudes towards robots [ 1 ]. Poland is an example of an ageing society [ 6 , 10 ]. Older people are very often digitally excluded from using the modern technological tools intended for them due to low digital competences [ 6 , 10 ].…”

“…Poland is an example of an ageing society [ 6 , 10 ]. Older people are very often digitally excluded from using the modern technological tools intended for them due to low digital competences [ 6 , 10 ]. This problem became particularly evident during the COVID-19 pandemic, when older people had to make the digital leap.…”

“…New technologies are being rapidly adopted by younger generations [ 6 ]. Analyzing future demographic forecasts, Poland will become a large market for such solutions [ 6 , 10 ]. Therefore, it is interesting to conduct the first qualitative study of this kind and find out the social, cultural and economic determinants of preferences for designing robots for the elderly, with references to the aforementioned theoretical frameworks related to human–machine interaction.…”