Elsevier

Journal of Aging Studies

Volume 44, March 2018, Pages 1-8
Journal of Aging Studies

Between activity and solidarity: Comprehending retirement and extended working lives in Swedish rural areas

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaging.2017.11.002Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • The paper analyses how extended working life is comprehended by older people.

  • Notions of previous work tasks, geographic place, economy and illness/disability were central.

  • Narratives were included in ideological fantasies of individualism and solidarity.

Abstract

The expected costs of population ageing have generally led to perceived needs to postpone the age of retirement. Drawing on 20 semi-structured interviews, the aim of this paper is to describe the ways that the possibility of an extended working life is comprehended by persons over the age of 60 living in sparsely populated areas in northern Sweden. While defining themselves as active, the interviewees argued strongly in favour of the right to retire. What are often described as opposing retiree subject positions – healthy and active vs. vulnerable and dependent – were partly transgressed in the interviews. The interviewees performed a solidarity that had the potential of including their future selves as possible objects of solidarity. Another important result was that in comprehending the possibility of an extended working life, morally charged notions of geographic place became central.

Keywords

Extended working life
Retirement
Ageing
Moral geography

Cited by (0)

1

Present address: Department of Social Sciences, Mid Sweden University, 831 25 Östersund.