Challenges in the modernisation of Dutch housing and care for the elderly

Abstract

The simultaneous processes of functional differentiation and integration are typical of the long‐term phenomenon of modernisation. Stimulated by the redefinition of the welfare state, the present day process of functional differentiation in the Dutch system of housing and care for the elderly has resulted in a wider variety of new and more flexible combinations of housing, care and welfare functions. An important challenge is to develop an adapted, integrated planning and financing system. Typical of the social cultural side of modernisation is the ‘independence’ paradigm. To counteract the individualistic nature of this paradigm, and the consequent threat to social cohesiveness, it is argued that a broader, social participation model should be developed.