Are baby boomer women redefining retirement?

Retiring Women, 2021

As the populations of the industrialized nations have grown older, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has shown there has been increasing concern among policymakers about the sustainability of social welfare systems and about the supply of labour as the so-called baby boomers exit the labour force (OECD, 1998(OECD, , 2006)). As noted by the OECD (2019a), between 2015 and 2050 the ratio of people aged 65 to those of working age is projected to double, which may act as a brake on global economic growth (Bloom et al., 2015). Consequently, it has been argued that 'it is extremely important for us to promote the employment of older people' (Seike et al., 2011, p. 46). Where until quite recently public policy for older workers was pro-retirement it has now shifted to be pro-work (Shultz and Olson, 2012). A raft of public policy reforms and advocacy efforts focused on the prolongation of working lives have emerged internationally in the last two decades. Much of this may be characterized as lacking a strategic or holistic approach. It has sometimes had adverse or, at least, ambiguous outcomes for older people and has arguably failed to assist those from lower socio-economic groups, among others (Taylor, 2002; Taylor and Earl, 2016). It has also been argued that advocacy efforts that have purported to challenge labour market ageism have been undermined by approaches that misunderstand its nature and, ironically, have been firmly grounded in pejorative views of ageing and older people (Taylor, Earl and McLoughlin, 2016). As noted by Rowe and Kahn (2015, p. 595), in responding to issues of population ageing 'the task of redesigning organizations and institutions that developed to fit other times and conditions is formidable'. Also apparent is the alignment of the present economic imperative for longer working lives with current gerontological thinking that seeks, firstly, to replace the deficit view of ageing with a more optimistic narrative (Foster and Walker, 2015; Katz and Calasanti, 2015) and, secondly, to challenge notions of increasing dependency at older ages (Rowe, 2015). Overlapping, competing frameworks have emerged that seek, for instance, to define 'active ', 'productive' and 'successful' ageing (Foster and Walker, 2015; Hinterlong et al., 2001; Rowe and Kahn, 2015). Critics have, however, drawn parallels between the tenets of a neoliberal and entrepreneurial ideology and concepts these perspectives draw from, namely personal choice, lifestyle, fluidity, responsibility and agency (Katz and Calasanti, 2015; Moulaert and Biggs, 2013). Nevertheless, this builds on active ageing reforms described by the OECD (1998, p. 84) as 'those that remove these undesirable constraints on life course flexibility and that strengthen support to citizens in making life-time choices'. According to Rowe and Kahn (1997) participation in productive activities, including informal help giving, volunteering and paid employment are essential for successful ageing. Critical to the concept is the notion that individuals can control the destiny of their own ageing

Journal of Aging Studies, 1993

to make them more inclusive.

Quality in Ageing and Older Adults, 2008

The 'baby boom' generation has emerged as a significant group in debates focusing on population change. The demographic context concerns the increase in the birth rate across industrialised countries from the mid-1940s through to the mid-1960s. From a sociological perspective, boomers have been viewed as a group with distinctive experiences that set them apart from previous generations. In the UK context, however, there have been relatively few detailed studies of the characteristics of the boomer generation, and in particular that of first wave boomers (born between 1945 and 1954) now entering retirement. This article draws on a research project exploring changes in consumption and identity affecting this cohort. The paper reviews some of the key social and demographic changes affecting this group, highlighting a mixture of continuities and discontinuities over previous cohorts. The article concludes with an assessment of the value of sociological research for furthering understanding of the baby boomer generation.

IntechOpen, 2020

The nature of work is undergoing fundamental transformation in the twenty-first century with drivers including digitalization, automation, and new forms of work organization. This chapter explores how the concept of retirement itself is increasingly redundant in relation to the new world of work. Of course, working lives inevitably do come to an end, but for whom, and at what point, and under what personal and social financial conditions, is this end point? Many people will want, and be required by public policy, to continue their working lives well into later life. In addition, the new dynamics of work and employment unfolding may enable this later life engagement. But in the “post-work” world predicted by many scholars, will later life employment be a possibility for them, and even for many people in their middle and younger years? This chapter explores the implications of the future of work for how traditional models of working lives and retirement need to be restructured and exa...

Ageing and Society, 2004

Retirement is frequently a period of change, when the roles and relationships associated with individuals' previous labour market positions are transformed. It is also a time when personal relationships, including the marital relationship and relationships with friends and family, come under increased scrutiny and may be realigned. Many studies of adjustment to retirement focus primarily on individual motivation; by contrast, this paper seeks to examine the structure of resources within which such decisions are framed. The paper examines the contribution that gender roles and identities make to the overall configuration of resources available to particular individuals. It draws upon qualitative research conducted with older people in four contrasting parts of the United Kingdom, and examines the combination of labour market and non-labour-market activities in which they are involved prior to state retirement age and as they withdraw from paid work. It explores how older people invoke various gendered identities to negotiate change and continuity during this time. The paper argues that gender roles and identities are central to this process and that the reflexive deployment of gender may rank alongside financial resources and social capital in its importance to the achievement of satisfying retirement transitions. Amongst those interviewed, traditional gendered roles predominated, and these sat less comfortably with retirement for men than for women.

Ageing and Society, 2016

Western countries currently face pressing demands to transform the labour market participation of older workers, in order to address the pressing economic and social challenges of an ageing population. However, in this article we argue that our understanding of older workers is limited by a dominant discourse that emphasises individuals rather than organisations; and valorises youth as the performative aspiration for all workers, regardless of age. To see things differently, and to see different things, we offer a novel analytical synthesis that combines insights from post-foundational feminist theory, the 2007 film No Country for Old Men and an empirical study of older nurses working in the Norwegian public health-care system. Our aim is to provide the foundations for alternative interventions in the world of work that might underpin a more sustainable future for older workers.

Sociological Research Online, 2008

This paper examines social and cultural constructions of first wave baby boomers, those born in the period 1945-1954. Boomers are depicted, variously, as bringing new lifestyles and attitudes to ageing and retirement; or heralding economic disaster; or placing fresh burdens on health and social care services. The paper seeks to explore narratives about the boomer generation, drawing on sociological studies, the mass media and cultural and social histories of the postwar period. The article provides a critical analysis of the construction of boomers as a 'problem generation', exploring this from the perspective of demography, consumption and politics. The paper concludes with a research agenda for further work around the boomer generation.

This article introduces a multidisciplinary conceptual and methodological framework, doing retirement. It suggests a way to analyse interconnected societal and organisational narratives about the transition between working life and retirement and how they impact the complex processes involved in ageing and retirement. Through a lens of doing retirement, it is possible to reveal how retirement is influenced by various interacting narratives on different levels in time and place, with performative consequences. We explain the framework by using examples from narratives about the transformation of work practices, perceptions of the pension system and mediated ideas of ageing. The framework is inspired by a capabilities approach, aiming at increasing individual freedom to choose the way of living without being dependent on organisational and societal conditions. With this emerging framework, we offer a way to increase the understanding of retirement processes to increase the capability in society, organisations, and for individuals.

Ageing International, 2002

In this essay, I outline a framework for studying work and retirement that takes into account the structural contexts in which individuals make decisions concerning economic activities in later life. This approach focuses on power relations in a global context, asking us to consider the relationships among advantaged and disadvantaged groups within and across national boundaries. Thus, it asks us to consider the impacts of global changes on local economies and workers, the welfare state, and intersecting power relations based on such characteristics as gender, race, ethnicity, class, age, religion and sexuality. I do not illustrate all of these power relations, but give examples of some ways in which they might influence individual patterns of work and retirement, and of how these influence the concepts of work and retirement themselves. This is an intriguing time to study work and retirement. Most theory, research, and policy have been guided by the Western, white, middle-class, and male assumptions of mainstream models, particularly those that focus upon individual characteristics and "rational choices" for explanations. Even when such factors as "employment opportunities" in later life are discussed, we only hint at their structures. We study neither the creation of such opportunities nor how the ability to take advantage of them varies by social location. At the same time, the world, and our knowledge of it, is changing in two important ways. First, we realize that globalization matters, although we tend to ignore that powerful multinational corporations generally operate outside of a given nation's control. We must recognize how this influences work and retirement in later life, and also how it is expressed in power relations among the old.

Quality in Ageing and Older Adults, 2007

This paper provides a critical assessment of academic and policy approaches to population ageing with an emphasis on the baby boomer cohort and constructions of late-life identity. It is suggested that policy towards an ageing population has shifted in focus, away from particular social hazards and towards an attempt to re-engineer the meaning of legitimate ageing and social participation in later life. Three themes are identified: constructing the baby boomers as a force for social change, a downward drift of the age associated with 'older people' and a shift away from defining ageing identities through consumption, back towards work and production. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for future social and public policy.

Ageing and Society, 2016

Work occupies a central place in identity formation. Consequently, retirement places retirees in a new reality that compels them to redefine themselves and adopt a new identity. The present article examines how retirees shape their identity in the absence of work. An interpretive analysis of in-depth interviews conducted with retirees in Israel shows that although retirement and old age are not necessarily equivalent or interconnected, the retirees themselves draw parallels between them, and at the same time also deny this linkage, preferring to draw a distinction between them. The findings reinforce the argument presented in the literature, namely that in contemporary society it is difficult to identify with old age. They also propose a new perspective that reveals the negotiation retirees conduct with old age, age and body, and how identity is shaped by way of denial. In this negotiation the retirees construct their identity around two central, parallel axes: retirement and old ag...

Human Relations, 2013

Retirement involves a set of institutional arrangements combined with socio-cultural meanings to sustain a distinct retirement phase in life course and career pathways. In this Introduction to the Special Issue: 'Reinventing Retirement: New Pathways, New Arrangements, New Meanings,' we outline the historical development of retirement. We identify the dramatic broad-based changes that recently have shaken this established construct to its core. We describe the main organizational responses to these changes, and how they have been associated with shifting, multiple meanings of retirement. Finally, we present a model that frames two general forms of reinvention of retirement. The first involves continuation of the idea of a distinct and well-defined period of life occurring at the end of a career trajectory, but with changes in the timing, the kinds of post-retirement activities pursued, and meanings associated with this period of life. The second represents a more fundamental reinvention in which the overall concept of

Academia.edu, 2020

According to various sources, some 10,000 Baby Boomers reach age 65 every day. By 2030 there will be more people in the USA over age 65 than there are under age 18. This narrative inquiry began with the question about what kinds of narratives these Baby Boomers are bringing into their retirement, and how their narratives are helping them adapt to this change in life situation. The literature in the area offers some insights, and amazingly many of the insights appear to apply in different countries and different cultures. Even so, there is much to learn for both scholars and therapists. This narrative inquiry adds to what the existing literature shows, and offers some insights for working with Baby Boomers, as well as some recommendations for begininning to think about the generations that follow.

Retiring Women, 2021

Advances in Life Course Research, 2013