Abstract
AbstractImages of what retirement is and ought to be are changing. Older workers are being encouraged to work for longer, at the same time, older adults increasingly voice expectations of a ‘third age’ of active engagement and new life prospects. In this article, we draw on the literature on older workers’ work patterns and retirement transitions (noting push/pull/stay/stuck/jump factors), and on scholarship on the changing social meaning of old age, most importantly the notions of a ‘third’ and ‘fourth’ age. The analysis is based on qualitative interviews with 28 employees in the private sector in Norway, aged between 55 and 66 years. Based on the interviews, we propose three ideal-typical approaches to the work–retirement transition: ‘the logic of deadline’, ‘the logic of negotiation’ and ‘the logic of averting retirement’. The ideal-types are defined by the degree to which informants assume agency in the workplace, their orientation towards work versus retirement and the degree to which they expect to exercise agency in retirement. We emphasise how retirement decisions are informed by notions of the meaning of ageing, while also embedded in relationships with employers and partners.
Highlights
The notion that individuals have a right to a work-free period at the end of their lives is relatively new
Based on interviews with 28 older workers in the private sector in Norway, we have proposed three ideal-typical approaches to the work–retirement transition: the logic of deadline, the logic of negotiation and the logic of retirement aversion
Is obviously a simplification of the variation in the material, we believe these idealtypes capture essential dimensions of the variation among older workers. We arrived at these ideal-types through analysing informants’ responses to open-ended questions, in a way that was informed by previous literature on how older workers approach retirement
Summary
The notion that individuals have a right to a work-free period at the end of their lives is relatively new. Retirement is an institution that developed largely in the 20th century, as state pensions and occupational pension schemes evolved, and the idea of a fixed retirement age took hold (Kohli, 2007; Sargent et al, 2013). Sargent et al (2013) have suggested that two general reinventions of retirement are forming: the first involves a continuation of the idea of a distinct life-phase at the end of the working life, but with changes in timing and the activities pursued. IP address: 3.95.197.209, on 02 Nov 2021 at 15:09:26, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms.
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