However, the idea of retirement as an abrupt transition from work
to leisure belongs to the past. Today it is hard to determine who is a retiree
and who is not. Many elderly people continue to work, at least on a part-
time basis, by necessity or to add social contacts and give their life a sense
of purpose. Elder and Pavalko (1993) found that 30 percent of their sam-
ple retired abruptly, 8 percent did not retire at all, and 62 percent had
other sorts of transitions: They worked part time, found new jobs, retired
for a few months and then returned to work, or held “bridge jobs”
between their old employment and retirement.
These trends are on track to increase. When AARP asked baby boomers
how they envision their retirement, 79 percent said they plan to work in
some capacity during their retirement years (AARP, 2001). A nationwide
survey of all U.S. workers found that 68 percent plan to continue working
in some capacity after retirement (Employee Benefits Research Institute,
2004). Many organizations have instituted phased retirement, a gradual
decrease in duties and responsibilities over several years rather than a sud-
den “farewell” (Gardyn, 2001; Walsh, 2001). Universities have long had
such a system: Emeritus faculty have no official teaching duties, but they
keep their offices and can continue their research, and they may occasion-
ally give lectures or teach seminars as long as they live.Elder Care
Before the twentieth century, family members were expected to take care of their el-
derly parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. The few elderly people with no sur-
viving relatives, or with relatives not interested in caring for them, might find their
way into a convent or monastery, but more likely they would end their days as beg-
gars. Today, family members still provide about 80 percent of elder care, providing
services estimated at $257 billion per year (National Family Caregivers Association,
2007). However, the birthrate is decreasing, so a much larger proportion of the
elderly population has no close relatives, and the increased life expectancy means
an increased incidence of health problems severe enough to require professional care.
So who is taking on that burden?
Many industrialized societies have institutionalized elder care through a series of
nursing homes, hospitals, and other institutions. While the general quality of care is
acceptable, it depends significantly on class. In many places, poorly paid staff at under-
funded and overcrowded institutions leads to neglect and even elder abuse. In some
cases, patients are treated as “inmates” serving a life sentence and are overmedicated
and undervalued. Even the best nursing homes “deny the personhood of age” by see-
ing the aging process as “inevitable decline and deterioration,” according to feminist
writer Betty Friedan (1993, p. 516).
While these stories may provide fodder for tabloid TV and newspapers, often
serving to increase the guilt of the younger generation that placed the elderly there in
the first place, the elderly are just as likely to experience abuse and neglect if they stay
with their families as if they are in institutions. And most Americans do care about
the elderly. According to a survey from the National Alliance for Caregiving (2004),
40 percent of family caregivers worry about the well-being of the person they care
for nearly every day, more often than they worry about their children, their job, retire-
ment savings, their partner’s health, the stock market, or terrorism. Yet they must con-
stantly juggle caregiving with their work and personal commitments: 80 percent work
full time in addition to their caregiving, and 40 percent are raising children under 18
(Chatzky 1999; National Alliance for Caregiving, 2004; Velkoff and Lawson, 1998).366 CHAPTER 11AGE: FROM YOUNG TO OLD
The old joke that when you turn 65, you are
required to move to Florida is close to the
truth. In 2004, 17 percent of Florida’s
population was over 65, the highest
percentage in the United States (California
had the highest raw numbers of elderly
persons). West Virginia, Pennsylvania, North
Dakota, and Iowa followed, at 15 percent
each, but Nevada is catching up: Between
2003 and 2004, its elderly population
increased by 4.2 percent. By 2030, six
states are expected to have elderly
populations of 25 percent or more: Florida,
Maine, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota,
and Wyoming (U.S. Census Bureau, 2005).Didyouknow
?