Midcourse

Abstract

Family scholars as well as scholars of occupations and organizations have long viewed retirement that is, exiting one’s primary career* occupation—as an important life marker. In the middle of the 20th century retirement became a common transition, particularly for men; it was part of their lockstep life course from education through employment to retirement. Reaching age 65 (or 62 for some), leaving the workforce, becoming eligible for Social Security and pensions, defining oneself as “retired”—all occurred simultaneously with exiting one’s career occupation. However, today these are increasingly separate events, making the definition of “retirement” problematic. Most economists define retirement as the “final” exit from the labor force or, alternatively the time of pension receipt. Sociologists and psychologists also use these definitions, as well as various additional ones, including being over 60 or 65, exiting from one’s primary career job (but not necessarily the workforce), or simply a self-definition, “being retired.” But many scholars neglect to offer any definition, assuming that, like marriage or parenthood, this is a commonly understood, taken-for-granted, clearly demarcated status passage.

Note that, due to the complexity of multiple careers and multiple retirements, I use the term “career job” or “primary career job” to characterize the job with the longest duration. In the 1950s and 1960s “career” meant one job or a related sequence; retirement meant one event. This was rarely true of women or minority men, and is less typical of all workers today.