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Beyond the Career Mystique: “Time In,” “Time Out,” and “Second Acts”

  • Presidential Address
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Sociological Forum

Abstract

The career mystique is the belief that working hard and putting in long hours continuously throughout adulthood is the path to occupational success, personal fulfillment, and a secure retirement. This is a false myth, increasingly irrelevant for most contemporary Americans, given that (1) few employees today have the back up of full-time homemakers, and (2) a competitive, information economy has fostered a global labor market, destroying the implicit contract linking seniority with security. America’s 21st century workforce requires a reconfiguration of “time in” paid work, including opportunities for “time outs,” as well as for “second acts.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, University of Minnesota, 267 19th Ave. So., Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55455

    Phyllis Moen

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  1. Phyllis Moen
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Correspondence to Phyllis Moen.

Additional information

President’s Address, Annual Meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society, February 2004; also presented at the parallel research and policy forum “Sustainable Careers for a Changing Workforce.”

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Moen, P. Beyond the Career Mystique: “Time In,” “Time Out,” and “Second Acts”. Sociol Forum 20, 189–208 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11206-005-4100-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11206-005-4100-8

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