In the light of demographic change and its accompanying implications for important societal functions, the economic and material circumstances of older people in Germany has been attracting increasing attention both in social gerontology and in the social and economic sciences as a whole (Naegele, 1991, 2003). The debate of recent years about the economically defined justice and solidarity between the generations, the public discussion about the demographically induced burdens on the social security systems as well as the growing importance of the economic power of older people for economic development of society attests to this. However, it is noticeable that questions about the importance of economic resources for the life satisfaction and subjective well-being of older people go largely unheeded both in political and in scientific discussions. This paradoxical ‘ambivalence’ partly also characterises social gerontology in Germany: although economic resources are by common accord regarded as one of the most important dimensions of a good life in old age, priority is not currently given to the analysis of the relationship between material wealth and individual well-being in old age.
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Weidekamp-Maicher, M., Naegele, G. (2007). Economic Resources and Subjective Well-Being in Old Age. In: Mollenkopf, H., Walker, A. (eds) Quality of Life in Old Age. Social Indicators Research Series, vol 31. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5682-6_5
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