(Re)production of Inequalities in Retirement Practices and Meanings Assigned to the Term ‘Retiree’ in the Post-Communist Context

In the institutionalized life course transition from work to retirement is the transition that culturally defines the beginning of later life. However, there is no universal way of experiencing retirement or understanding retirees’ social roles. Especially in the context of the post-communist, liquid modern reality in Poland. The social role of the retiree, defined as a set of rules and expectations generated for individuals occupying particular positions in the social structure, is constructed at the intersection of what is culturally defined and individually negotiated. Therefore, the way in which individuals (re)define term “retiree” and “do retirement” reflects not only inequalities in individual resources and attitudes, but also in social structure in a given place and at a given time. In this contribution, I draw upon data from 68 qualitative interviews with retirees from Poland to analyze retirement practices and meanings assigned to the term “retiree.” Applying practice theory, I explore the inequalities they (re)produce, mirror and reinforce at the same time. Results show that there are four broad types of retirement practices: caregiving, working, exploring and disengaging. During analysis of meanings assigned by participants to the term “retiree,” two definitions emerged: one of a “new wave retiree” and the other of a “stagnant retiree.” Results suggest that in the post-communist context, retirement practices and meanings assigned to the term “retiree” are in the ongoing process of (re)negotiation and are influenced on the one hand by the activation demands resulting from discourses of active and productive aging, and on the other by habitus and imaginaries of retirement formed in the bygone communist era. Retirement practices and definitions of the term “retiree” that emerged from the data reflect structural and individual inequalities, highlighting intersection of gender, age and socioeconomic status in the (re)production of inequalities in retirement transition in the post-communist context.

Undoing age, redefining gender, and negotiating time: Embodied experiences of midlife women in endurance sports

Despite the increasing participation of midlife women in sports, and biomedical and consumerist discourses encouraging physical activity, research on intersections of age, gender, and the body in sports is lacking or fragmentary. Based on in-depth interviews with Israeli women aged 40–60 years participating in marathons, ultramarathons, and triathlons, we explore how they experience their participation and how these experiences correspond with normative socio-temporal assumptions about midlife transitions, gender, and the body. Findings reveal that endurance sports enable midlife women to challenge dominant discourses on the “decaying” and “menopausal” body by undoing age and formulating gender narratives that include new identities and negotiations of temporal orders. The interplay between undoing age and redefining gender operates through two mechanisms: “embodied experiences” that introduce the body as a material reality and a source of critical knowledge, and the liminality of mid-age as a life-course transition characterized by the absence of institutional and symbolic anchors. We make a twofold contribution to the critical literature on gender and life course. First, we develop the concept of embodied experiences as a vantage point for understanding the intersections of age and gender. Second, we highlight the potential of participation in endurance sports for negotiating temporal orders and formulate new narratives of femininity and aging.

Living in Uncertain Times: Experiences of Menopause and Reproductive Aging

This chapter explores the everyday experiences of women living in and passing through the stages of perimenopause and menopause, a transition that brings both physical change and identity change. Dillaway approaches this subject by examining the myriad uncertainties that women face during this transition, attributing many of them to confusion around the definitions of perimenopause and menopause; ambiguous signs and symptoms; conflicted feelings about ageing; and reflections on both previous and current motherhood and family experiences. Women think about and navigate these uncertainties in varied ways, Dillaway says, and she concludes that part of the everyday experience of this reproductive- and life-course transition is learning to live in and with uncertainty.

Adolescent Delinquency and Family Conflict as Precursors of Romantic Relationships in Early Adulthood

Relationship engagement is an important life-course transition that may affect criminal development. Yet, little is known about how criminal behavior may in turn affect life-course transitions. Using six waves of data on adolescents, their parents and a sibling from the RADAR-Y (Research on Adolescent Development and Relationships, younger cohort) study, we investigate how patterns of adolescent delinquency and family conflict are related to characteristics of early adulthood romantic relationship engagement by means of a multiple-group trajectory model approach. We find that family conflict seems to foreshadow strained romantic relationships in the early adult years. Adolescent delinquency—and not family conflict—is the stronger predictor of partnering an antisocial spouse. Thus, persistence in antisocial behavior in adulthood may be contributed to both the nature of adolescent family relations and the extent of adolescent delinquency.

Becoming a Young Breadwinner? The Education, Employment and Training Trajectories of Young Fathers

The entry into fatherhood is a major life course transition involving the acquisition of new adult roles and responsibilities. This transition is rarely planned for young fathers, and may involve a range of challenges, not least their capacity to provide materially and financially for their child. Drawing on a Qualitative Longitudinal study of young fathers in the UK, this article charts their very different pathways through education, training and employment, showing how these are shaped by a constellation of life circumstances. The implications for policy are considered in the light of a shifting landscape of welfare reform and ‘austerity’ measures.

‘My father found it for me’: changing experiences of entering the workforce in twentieth-century urban Britain

ABSTRACT:Leaving education and gaining employment is a significant life course transition for most people. This article explores the processes by which young people gained their first job in mid-twentieth-century urban Britain, and examines the ways in which this changed in relation to major shifts in society, economy and culture. Key themes include the role of parents and other family members, changes in levels of autonomy and control and the impacts of societal change. Data are drawn from oral testimonies collected in three major urban areas: Glasgow, Manchester and London, and span a period from the 1920s to the 1980s.