The Sociology of Retirement

The Sociology of Retirement PDF Author: Robert C. Atchley
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN:
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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The Sociology of Retirement

The Sociology of Retirement PDF Author: Robert C. Atchley
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN:
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description


The Experience of Retirement

The Experience of Retirement PDF Author: Robert S. Weiss
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501711725
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
Retirement brings with it the promises of leisure and freedom as well as the risks of boredom and isolation. When retirees rid their schedules of anything resembling the kinds of obligations that once had been imposed by work, they will experience a sometimes-uncomfortable absence of structure. In The Experience of Retirement, the distinguished sociologist Robert S. Weiss provides a detailed description of how some people plan their retirement, what life in retirement is like, and what makes for a fulfilling retirement. His engaging book can thus serve as a most useful guide. Weiss shows us both retirement's benefits and its possible costs, both the relief retirees can feel once free of work's stresses and constraints and the discomfort that can be caused by loss of the positive aspects of working life.The book is based on extensive interviews with eighty-nine men and women before and after their retirement from middle-income careers. Weiss makes vivid their experiences by presenting, in their own words, their descriptions of leaving their careers, considering what to do with their time, confronting issues of income in retirement, dealing, sometimes, with social isolation, and reorganizing their lives. The interviews reveal the way in which retirement affects marriages and other familial relationships. Weiss concludes by presenting advice about retirement based on the actual experiences of retirees. For anyone approaching the age of retirement or already retired and looking for a more satisfying post-career life, for personnel managers, health care professionals, and all those who provide services for the retired, The Experience of Retirement will be an illuminating guidebook to this phase of life.

Work and Retirement

Work and Retirement PDF Author: Stanley Parker
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000549534
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 157

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Book Description
In the early 1980s world recession and widespread unemployment had accentuated an existing trend – more people retiring from work early and living longer after doing so. Some were adequately prepared for a life of well-earned ‘leisure’ in retirement, but too many were not. The policies of employers, unions and governments on retirement needed to be challenged in societies where work opportunities were collapsing but where leisure activities and values were not yet strong enough to take their place. Originally published in 1982, Dr Parker, a sociologist, provides a careful and critical examination of what we knew about retirement and discusses possible alternative answers to the various problems involved at the time. The history of retirement is first considered, followed by a conceptual analysis of types of retirement. There are chapters on preparation for retirement, the capacity of older people to work, and on the varying experiences of retirement. Separate consideration is given to the question of work after retirement age and whether retirement is actually experienced as leisure. The concluding chapter examines various policy alternatives for dealing with the problems raised earlier in the book. Work and Retirement was intended for students of industrial sociology and industrial psychology, for personnel and human resource professionals, for trade unionists and for all those who had an interest in understanding the developments in the field of retirement and the older working population. Now it can be read in its historical context.

Downhill from Here

Downhill from Here PDF Author: Katherine S. Newman
Publisher: Metropolitan Books
ISBN: 1250119464
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
A sharp examination of the looming financial catastrophe of retirement in America. As millions of Baby Boomers reach their golden years, the state of retirement in America is little short of a disaster. Nearly half the households with people aged 55 and older have no retirement savings at all. The real estate crash wiped out much of the home equity that millions were counting on to support their retirement. And the typical Social Security check covers less than 40% of pre-retirement wages—a number projected to drop to under 28% within two decades. Old-age poverty, a problem we thought was solved by the New Deal, is poised for a resurgence. With dramatic statistics and vivid portraits, acclaimed sociologist Katherine S. Newman shows that the American retirement crisis touches us all, cutting across class lines and generational divides. White-collar managers have seen retirement benefits vanish; Teamsters have had their pensions cut in half; bankrupt cities like Detroit have walked away from their commitments to municipal workers. And for Generation X, the prospects are even worse: a fifth of them expect to never be able to retire. Only the vaunted “one percent” can face retirement without fear. Other countries are confronting similar demographic challenges, yet they have not abandoned their social contract with seniors. Downhill From Here makes it clear that America, too, can—and must—do better.

Retirement and Its Discontents

Retirement and Its Discontents PDF Author: Michelle Pannor Silver
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231547927
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
In the popular imagination, retirement promises a well-deserved rest—idle days spent traveling, volunteering, pursuing hobbies, or just puttering around the house. But as the nature of work has changed, becoming not just a means of income but a major source of personal identity, many accomplished professionals struggle with discontentment in their retirement. What are we to do—individually and as a culture—when work and life experience make conventional retirement a burden rather than a reprieve? In Retirement and Its Discontents, Michelle Pannor Silver considers how we confront the mismatch between idealized and actual retirement. She follows doctors, CEOs, elite athletes, professors, and homemakers during their transition to retirement as they struggle to recalibrate their sense of purpose and self-worth. The work ethic and passion that helped these retirees succeed can make giving in to retirement more difficult, as they confront newfound leisure time with uncertainty and guilt. Drawing on in-depth interviews that capture a range of perceptions and common concerns about what it means to be retired, Silver emphasizes the significance of creating new retirement strategies that support social connectedness and personal fulfillment while countering ageist stereotypes about productivity and employment. A richly detailed and deeply personal exploration of the challenges faced by accomplished retirees, Retirement and Its Discontents demonstrates the importance of personal identity in forging sustainable social norms around retirement and helps us to rethink some of the new challenges for aging societies.

Retirement on the Line

Retirement on the Line PDF Author: Caitrin Lynch
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 0801464099
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
In an era when people live longer and want (or need) to work past the traditional retirement age, the Vita Needle Company of Needham, Massachusetts, provides inspiration and important lessons about the value of older workers. Vita Needle is a family-owned factory that was founded in 1932 and makes needles, stainless steel tubing and pipes, and custom fabricated parts. As part of its unusual business model, the company seeks out older workers; the median age of the employees is seventy-four. In Retirement on the Line, Caitrin Lynch explores what this unusual company's commitment to an elderly workforce means for the employer, the workers, the community, and society more generally. Benefiting from nearly five years of fieldwork at Vita Needle, Lynch offers an intimate portrait of the people who work there, a nuanced explanation of the company's hiring practices, and a cogent analysis of how the workers' experiences can inform our understanding of aging and work in the twenty-first century. As an in-depth study of a singular workplace, rooted in the unique insights of an anthropologist who specializes in the world of work, this book provides a sustained focus on values and meanings-with profound consequences for the broader assumptions our society has about aging and employment.

Journeys in Sociology

Journeys in Sociology PDF Author: Rosalyn Benajmin Darling
Publisher: Temple University Press
ISBN: 1439914753
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 251

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Book Description
For most sociologists, their life’s work does not end with retirement. Many professors and practitioners continue to teach, publish, or explore related activities after leaving academia. They also connect with others in the field to lessen the isolation they sometimes feel outside the ivory tower or an applied work setting. The editors and twenty contributors to the essential anthology Journeys in Sociology use a life-course perspective to address the role of sociology in their lives. The power of their personal experiences—during the Great Depression, World War II, or the student protests and social movements in the 1960s and ‘70s—magnify how and why social change prompted these men and women to study sociology. Moreover, all of the contributors include a discussion of their activities in retirement. From Bob Perrucci, Tuck Green, and Wendell Bell, who write about issues of class, to Debra Kaufman and Elinore Lurie, who explain how gender played a role in their careers, the diverse entries in Journeys in Sociology provide a fascinating look at both the influence of their lives on the discipline and the discipline on these sociologists’ lives. Contributors include: David J. Armor, Wendell Bell, Glen H. Elder, Jr., Henry W. Fischer, Janet Zollinger Giele, Charles S. (Tuck) Green, Peter Mandel Hall, Elizabeth Higginbotham, Debra Renee Kaufman, Corinne Kirchner, Elinore E. Lurie, Gary T. Marx, Robert Perrucci, Fred Pincus, Thomas Scheff, Arthur Shostak, David Simon, Natalie J. Sokoloff, Edward Tiryakian, Joyce E. Williams, and the editors. Published in collaboration with the American Sociological Association Opportunities in Retirement Network.

Breaking the Watch

Breaking the Watch PDF Author: Joel S. Savishinsky
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 150171841X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description
The topic of retirement becomes increasingly compelling as the U.S. population ages. It's easy to find books about how to plan financially for those years after careers end, but Breaking the Watch focuses on the many ways of creating a life, not just making a living, as a retired person.This book follows women and men from a rural American community as they approach and experience the first years of retirement. Joel Savishinsky focuses on the efforts people make to find meaning in a stage of life American culture often views in a confused or disdainful way.In conversations and stories, 13 men and 13 women demonstrate a deep commitment to defining their own retirement. They bring to their mature years a diversity of backgrounds, interests, and responsibilities. They include former teachers, librarians, doctors, farmers, lawyers, bankers, mail carriers, and secretaries. Some are married, others divorced or single; many have children and grandchildren, but some have neither. Their finances run the gamut from the modest to the munificent, while their health ranges from robust to disabled. From an examination of the "rites of passage" that marked their exit from full-time work, Breaking the Watch moves on to consider how to plan appropriately for retirement; renegotiate ties to friends, family, and community; and create a sense of passion—be it for t'ai chi, travel, painting, or politics—that will drive a new sense of purpose. These intimate glimpses into real lives allow a rare understanding of the retirement process.

Faculty Retirement

Faculty Retirement PDF Author: Jean McLaughlin
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000980030
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 173

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Book Description
Co-published with ACE.This book addresses the critical and looming issue of retirement in higher education as the cohort of boomer generation faculty come to the close of their careers. On the one hand institutions need to replenish themselves, and so need older employees to retire. On the other, mass retirements can decimate departments, creating the need for mass hirings that will create another crisis in the future.At the same time, with the elimination of mandatory retirement, many faculty are working on into and beyond their seventies because they feel they still have much to contribute, because their identities are closely tied to their work, because they wish to remain connected to their institutions, or for financial reasons. Given institutions’ legal constraints and planning exigencies, and faculties’ varied motivations, what are the options that can satisfy the needs of both parties? This book presents a range of examples of how institutions of all types and sizes are addressing these dilemmas, and how faculty members have helped create or shape policies that address their needs and allow them to continue to play meaningful roles at their institutions.The contributors describe practices that address the concerns of those already nearing or in retirement, propose approaches to creating opportunities to start these sensitive discussions and address financial planning at early career stages, and outline strategies for developing clear structures and policies and communication so that individuals have a full understanding of their options as they make life-changing decisions. This book presents models from fifteen colleges and universities identified by the American Council on Education through a competition for having developed innovative and effective ways to help faculty transition into retirement. It offers clear messages about the need for greater transparency in addressing retirement and transitions, for better communication, and for close coordination between human resources and academic administrators. It offers a roadmap for HR personnel, senior administrators, department chairs, and faculty themselves.

Sociology of Aging

Sociology of Aging PDF Author: Diana K. Harris
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
ISBN: 9780395285282
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 486

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Book Description