Werner Schirmer
Biographic Data
| ID | 281718 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Werner Schirmer |
| GIVEN NAMES | Werner |
| FAMILY NAME | Schirmer |
| SIGNATURE | SCHIRMER W |
| AFFILIATIONS | Vrije Universiteit Brussel |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3262-5932 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 52 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 17 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2008 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
How older adults experience the digitalisation of their everyday life
This article explores e-reading as an instance of how older people experience the digitalisation of everyday life. Drawing on focus group data, we examine how older people make sense of e-reading in particular and digitalisation in general. We analysed the data with a constructivist analytic strategy inspired by sociologist Niklas Luhmann. The participants appreciate e-reading in situations where practicality and functionality matter. At the same…
The association between internet non-use and multidimensional frailty in older adults
This study examined the association between frailty and internet (non-)use, using representative data – collected between 2004 and 2021 – of community dwelling people aged 60 and older living in Flanders, Belgium (N = 43,048). Multidimensional frailty was measured by the Comprehensive Frailty Assessment Instrument (CFAI), which is a reliable and valid instrument to assess physical, psychological, social and environmental dimensions of frailty. In…
Inequalities in internet use among older people between 2004 and 2021
Although research already examined sociodemographic profiles of older internet (non-)users, it is unknown how combinations of sociodemographic factors relate to internet (non-)use. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the cumulative impact of sociodemographic characteristics on internet (non-)use among people aged 60 and older between 2004 and 2021, using representative survey data derived from the Belgian Ageing Studies (n = 61 376). Logist…
How “basic” is basic digital literacy for older adults? Insights from digital skills instructors
Introduction With the continuing advancement of digitalization of everyday life, digital literacy becomes more and more a necessity. As a consequence, those who are digitally illiterate experience digital exclusion, which increasingly equals social exclusion. Older adults are typically less digitally active and also less skilled in digital technologies than younger cohorts. Digital inclusion frameworks by governmental and supra-national organizat…
Exploring older adults’ ICT support
Because findings in prior research are ambiguous, it remains unclear whether and under which circumstances formal and informal support sources help older adults with their Information and Communication Technology (ICT) use. Our qualitative interview study with 96 older adults (>65, including Internet users and non-users) aims to shed light on older adults’ ICT support by addressing two research questions: (Q1) What types of ICT support needs do o…
Bridging the ‘instruction gap’
Existing research on digital inclusion has shown that older adults (65+) are, in general, less digitally skilled than other age groups. While older adults can gain digital skills through ‘cold’ (formal) training by ICT instructors or through ‘warm’ (informal) support from family and friends, studies have suggested that formal training is more effective. Drawing on qualitative interview data of 26 ICT instructors, we 1) examine how their support c…
Loneliness among older people as a social problem
This article offers a theoretical framework for studying loneliness among older people from a social problems perspective. The framework combines the constructionist approach to social problems (Spector and Kitsuse) and systems theory (Luhmann). Based on the first approach, we understand the social problem of loneliness among older people to be the result of claims-making activities by different key actors. These activities are guided by underlyi…
The lost Gemeinschaft
Social work and social problems
Social work builds its identity on social problems. The goal is to generate knowledge about causes, consequences and solutions. However, there is a lack of theory of social problems. We suggest that research on social problems can benefit by ‘bringing the observer in’: L oseke's constructionist framework and L uhmann's systems theory. According to L oseke, social problems appear differently when constructed by different observers. Constructions v…
The Luhmannian approach to exclusion/inclusion and its relevance to Social Work
Although the concept of social exclusion is central to the academic discipline of social work, there is not much theoretical clarity about what it actually means. For instance, exclusion is used as a synonym for poverty, marginalization, detachment, unemployment, or solitude. We argue that the systems-theoretical framework developed by the German social theorist Niklas Luhmann (1927–1997) provides the conceptual tools to understand inclusion and …
Respect and agency
Both in social science and in everyday life, 'respect' is an important and widely used term to describe positive conduct of one person towards another. However, just what respectful behaviour refers to, and how it can be differentiated from considerate, tolerant, kind, etc. behaviour continues to elude social-scientific analysis. In order to investigate the meaning that people give to the concept of respect, the authors carried out focus groups i…
From Tolerance to Respect in Inter-Ethnic Contexts
When advocates of multiculturalism promote democratic values, they often call for tolerance and respect. The pairwise usage of these concepts wrongly presumes a similar, if not the same, positively connoted meaning. This article depicts an important difference between respect and tolerance, not only in terms of semantics but also regarding the concepts' impact on social interactions. Being tolerated often means to be 'put up with' or to be grudgi…
The latent function of 'responsibility for one's health' in Swedish healthcare priority-setting
Applying Luhmanns theoretical framework, this article analyses the function of the notion responsibility for ones health in prioritisation in Swedish healthcare. A document called Ethical Platform was adopted in 1997 in order to guide decisions about prioritisation. Evaluations deemed it a failure. Against its official purpose, we argue that this document is not a failure as it has the latent function of protecting the credibility of the self-des…
The responsibility principle. Contradictions of priority-setting in Swedish healthcare
Medical priority-setting has been discussed heatedly in Sweden since the 1990s. While criteria such as medical need, solidarity and cost-effectiveness were established long ago, they failed to give clear directives to decision-makers on how to apportion priority. The notion of individual responsibility for one's health was suggested as one solution out of the impasse. According to the responsibility principle, anyone who fails to live up to the n…
Agents of their health? How the Swedish welfare state introduces expectations of individual responsibility
In recent years, the notion of individual responsibility for one's health has been introduced into Swedish medico-political debate. Formerly expressed as a recommendation, it has now taken on the form of expectations. In a Swedish context, this shift from collective to individual responsibility is novel because it implies a break with well-established welfare state practice of comprehensive care for their citizens. Using a systems-theoretical app…
Bedrohungskommunikation
Bedrohungskommunikation
Sicherheit ist seit jeher Gegenstand erbitterter Debatten der politikwissenschaftlichen Teildisziplin Internationale Beziehungen. Die Schule des Realismus und das Konzept der ‚National Security’ haben das Fach lange dominiert. Der Einzug soziologisch inspirierter konstruktivistischer Theorien hat zwar diese Dominanz gebrochen, aber der entscheidende Schritt für eine erhöhte Anschlussfähigkeit in der Soziologie ist ausgeblieben: zu reflektieren, d…
From Tolerance to Respect in Inter-Ethnic Contexts
When advocates of multiculturalism promote democratic values, they often call for tolerance and respect. The pairwise usage of these concepts wrongly presumes a similar, if not the same, positively connoted meaning. This article depicts an important difference between respect and tolerance, not only in terms of semantics but also regarding the concepts' impact on social interactions. Being tolerated often means to be 'put up with' or to be grudgi…
Agents of their health? How the Swedish welfare state introduces expectations of individual responsibility
In recent years, the notion of individual responsibility for one's health has been introduced into Swedish medico-political debate. Formerly expressed as a recommendation, it has now taken on the form of expectations. In a Swedish context, this shift from collective to individual responsibility is novel because it implies a break with well-established welfare state practice of comprehensive care for their citizens. Using a systems-theoretical app…
The Luhmannian approach to exclusion/inclusion and its relevance to Social Work
Although the concept of social exclusion is central to the academic discipline of social work, there is not much theoretical clarity about what it actually means. For instance, exclusion is used as a synonym for poverty, marginalization, detachment, unemployment, or solitude. We argue that the systems-theoretical framework developed by the German social theorist Niklas Luhmann (1927–1997) provides the conceptual tools to understand inclusion and …
The responsibility principle. Contradictions of priority-setting in Swedish healthcare
Medical priority-setting has been discussed heatedly in Sweden since the 1990s. While criteria such as medical need, solidarity and cost-effectiveness were established long ago, they failed to give clear directives to decision-makers on how to apportion priority. The notion of individual responsibility for one's health was suggested as one solution out of the impasse. According to the responsibility principle, anyone who fails to live up to the n…
Social work and social problems
Social work builds its identity on social problems. The goal is to generate knowledge about causes, consequences and solutions. However, there is a lack of theory of social problems. We suggest that research on social problems can benefit by ‘bringing the observer in’: L oseke's constructionist framework and L uhmann's systems theory. According to L oseke, social problems appear differently when constructed by different observers. Constructions v…
The latent function of 'responsibility for one's health' in Swedish healthcare priority-setting
Applying Luhmanns theoretical framework, this article analyses the function of the notion responsibility for ones health in prioritisation in Swedish healthcare. A document called Ethical Platform was adopted in 1997 in order to guide decisions about prioritisation. Evaluations deemed it a failure. Against its official purpose, we argue that this document is not a failure as it has the latent function of protecting the credibility of the self-des…
Exploring older adults’ ICT support
Because findings in prior research are ambiguous, it remains unclear whether and under which circumstances formal and informal support sources help older adults with their Information and Communication Technology (ICT) use. Our qualitative interview study with 96 older adults (>65, including Internet users and non-users) aims to shed light on older adults’ ICT support by addressing two research questions: (Q1) What types of ICT support needs do o…
Loneliness among older people as a social problem
This article offers a theoretical framework for studying loneliness among older people from a social problems perspective. The framework combines the constructionist approach to social problems (Spector and Kitsuse) and systems theory (Luhmann). Based on the first approach, we understand the social problem of loneliness among older people to be the result of claims-making activities by different key actors. These activities are guided by underlyi…
The lost Gemeinschaft
Bridging the ‘instruction gap’
Existing research on digital inclusion has shown that older adults (65+) are, in general, less digitally skilled than other age groups. While older adults can gain digital skills through ‘cold’ (formal) training by ICT instructors or through ‘warm’ (informal) support from family and friends, studies have suggested that formal training is more effective. Drawing on qualitative interview data of 26 ICT instructors, we 1) examine how their support c…
Bedrohungskommunikation
Sicherheit ist seit jeher Gegenstand erbitterter Debatten der politikwissenschaftlichen Teildisziplin Internationale Beziehungen. Die Schule des Realismus und das Konzept der ‚National Security’ haben das Fach lange dominiert. Der Einzug soziologisch inspirierter konstruktivistischer Theorien hat zwar diese Dominanz gebrochen, aber der entscheidende Schritt für eine erhöhte Anschlussfähigkeit in der Soziologie ist ausgeblieben: zu reflektieren, d…
Bedrohungskommunikation
Agents of their health? How the Swedish welfare state introduces expectations of individual responsibility
In recent years, the notion of individual responsibility for one's health has been introduced into Swedish medico-political debate. Formerly expressed as a recommendation, it has now taken on the form of expectations. In a Swedish context, this shift from collective to individual responsibility is novel because it implies a break with well-established welfare state practice of comprehensive care for their citizens. Using a systems-theoretical app…
The responsibility principle. Contradictions of priority-setting in Swedish healthcare
Medical priority-setting has been discussed heatedly in Sweden since the 1990s. While criteria such as medical need, solidarity and cost-effectiveness were established long ago, they failed to give clear directives to decision-makers on how to apportion priority. The notion of individual responsibility for one's health was suggested as one solution out of the impasse. According to the responsibility principle, anyone who fails to live up to the n…
From Tolerance to Respect in Inter-Ethnic Contexts
When advocates of multiculturalism promote democratic values, they often call for tolerance and respect. The pairwise usage of these concepts wrongly presumes a similar, if not the same, positively connoted meaning. This article depicts an important difference between respect and tolerance, not only in terms of semantics but also regarding the concepts' impact on social interactions. Being tolerated often means to be 'put up with' or to be grudgi…
The latent function of 'responsibility for one's health' in Swedish healthcare priority-setting
Applying Luhmanns theoretical framework, this article analyses the function of the notion responsibility for ones health in prioritisation in Swedish healthcare. A document called Ethical Platform was adopted in 1997 in order to guide decisions about prioritisation. Evaluations deemed it a failure. Against its official purpose, we argue that this document is not a failure as it has the latent function of protecting the credibility of the self-des…
The Luhmannian approach to exclusion/inclusion and its relevance to Social Work
Although the concept of social exclusion is central to the academic discipline of social work, there is not much theoretical clarity about what it actually means. For instance, exclusion is used as a synonym for poverty, marginalization, detachment, unemployment, or solitude. We argue that the systems-theoretical framework developed by the German social theorist Niklas Luhmann (1927–1997) provides the conceptual tools to understand inclusion and …
Respect and agency
Both in social science and in everyday life, 'respect' is an important and widely used term to describe positive conduct of one person towards another. However, just what respectful behaviour refers to, and how it can be differentiated from considerate, tolerant, kind, etc. behaviour continues to elude social-scientific analysis. In order to investigate the meaning that people give to the concept of respect, the authors carried out focus groups i…
Social work and social problems
Social work builds its identity on social problems. The goal is to generate knowledge about causes, consequences and solutions. However, there is a lack of theory of social problems. We suggest that research on social problems can benefit by ‘bringing the observer in’: L oseke's constructionist framework and L uhmann's systems theory. According to L oseke, social problems appear differently when constructed by different observers. Constructions v…
The lost Gemeinschaft
Loneliness among older people as a social problem
This article offers a theoretical framework for studying loneliness among older people from a social problems perspective. The framework combines the constructionist approach to social problems (Spector and Kitsuse) and systems theory (Luhmann). Based on the first approach, we understand the social problem of loneliness among older people to be the result of claims-making activities by different key actors. These activities are guided by underlyi…
How “basic” is basic digital literacy for older adults? Insights from digital skills instructors
Introduction With the continuing advancement of digitalization of everyday life, digital literacy becomes more and more a necessity. As a consequence, those who are digitally illiterate experience digital exclusion, which increasingly equals social exclusion. Older adults are typically less digitally active and also less skilled in digital technologies than younger cohorts. Digital inclusion frameworks by governmental and supra-national organizat…
Exploring older adults’ ICT support
Because findings in prior research are ambiguous, it remains unclear whether and under which circumstances formal and informal support sources help older adults with their Information and Communication Technology (ICT) use. Our qualitative interview study with 96 older adults (>65, including Internet users and non-users) aims to shed light on older adults’ ICT support by addressing two research questions: (Q1) What types of ICT support needs do o…
Bridging the ‘instruction gap’
Existing research on digital inclusion has shown that older adults (65+) are, in general, less digitally skilled than other age groups. While older adults can gain digital skills through ‘cold’ (formal) training by ICT instructors or through ‘warm’ (informal) support from family and friends, studies have suggested that formal training is more effective. Drawing on qualitative interview data of 26 ICT instructors, we 1) examine how their support c…
The association between internet non-use and multidimensional frailty in older adults
This study examined the association between frailty and internet (non-)use, using representative data – collected between 2004 and 2021 – of community dwelling people aged 60 and older living in Flanders, Belgium (N = 43,048). Multidimensional frailty was measured by the Comprehensive Frailty Assessment Instrument (CFAI), which is a reliable and valid instrument to assess physical, psychological, social and environmental dimensions of frailty. In…
Inequalities in internet use among older people between 2004 and 2021
Although research already examined sociodemographic profiles of older internet (non-)users, it is unknown how combinations of sociodemographic factors relate to internet (non-)use. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the cumulative impact of sociodemographic characteristics on internet (non-)use among people aged 60 and older between 2004 and 2021, using representative survey data derived from the Belgian Ageing Studies (n = 61 376). Logist…
How older adults experience the digitalisation of their everyday life
This article explores e-reading as an instance of how older people experience the digitalisation of everyday life. Drawing on focus group data, we examine how older people make sense of e-reading in particular and digitalisation in general. We analysed the data with a constructivist analytic strategy inspired by sociologist Niklas Luhmann. The participants appreciate e-reading in situations where practicality and functionality matter. At the same…
Sociology (13 works) · Psychology (12 works) · Political science (10 works) · Computer Science (8 works) · Social science (7 works) · Social Psychology (6 works) · Technology Use by Older Adults (6 works) · Epistemology (5 works) · Law (5 works) · Medicine (5 works)