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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Pathways to early retirement
— structure and agency in decision-making among British civil servants | | Author(s) | Paul Higgs, Gill Mein, Jane Ferrie |
| Journal title | Ageing and Society, vol 23, part 6, November 2003 |
| Pages | pp 761-778 |
| Keywords | Civil servants ; Early retirement ; Preparation [retirement] ; Attitude ; Qualitative Studies. |
| Annotation | The changing nature of later life in the UK and some of the broader issues of early retirement are examined. While there has been much debate about the restructuring of employment during the latter part of the 20th century, less attention has been given to those taking voluntary early retirement. Given the significance of early retirement to the economy and social policy, it is important to find out how individuals make retirement decisions. The results are examined of a semi-structured interview study of decisions made by a group of 60 civil servants participating in the Whitehall II study. The sample included participants who chose early retirement and those who did not. From the interview data, ideal types of possible routes into retirement have been constructed from individual life histories, to show how responses to issues surrounding retirement feature in people's lives. It is argued that decisions about early retirement are not made in a vacuum, neither are they free from pressures or inducements. Rather, they are to do with organisation restructuring, financial offers, or the opportunities for leisure and self-fulfilment that early retirement offers. The paper argues that early retirement needs to be studied as a process involving the interplay between structure and agency. (KJ/RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-031120209 A |
| Classmark | XM8: G5M: GA: DP: 3DP |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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