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Poverty in Germany is on the rise. All current empirical surveys record this ongoing trend, specifically among certain disadvantaged groups, including older women. Despite the fact that different surveys draw the objective poverty line at different absolute income levels, it is more important, from a comprehensive sociological viewpoint, to include the numerous non-monetary factors – social and infrastructural – that burden the life of a poor person both objectively and subjectively. The so-called relative poverty also examines the contextual conditions, stresses and strains in the surrounding life situations from which poor people suffer from and which limit their life chances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For about two decades, the number of people working beyond retirement age has been rising steadily. On the one hand, this is closely related to the improved health and qualification conditions of older people. On the other hand, it is also due to increasing financial pressure on retirement incomes. According to the motto “retirees just wanna have fun”, pensioners are looking for jobs that they can enjoy. The main motive, however, remains to be the generation of an additional income on top of their pension. If this is not taken into account, the precarious income and living situation often found with working pensioneers is overlooked. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with the marginalization and poverty of older people in society. It emphasizes that the image of old age as an unproductive phase of life is a distorted deficit image and that social risks such as poverty have more to do with a person's social status than with age itself. The authors shed light on the role of age images and social norms in the marginalization of older people and highlight the importance of digital technologies for their social participation. Therefore, old-age poverty and marginalization in old age are underestimated phenomena with complex causes that will be examined in more detail in this special issue. [Extracted from the article]