American views on retirement

Retirement has only recently become institutionalized in the United States. Earlier, most older men remained in the labour force, but today retirement is the overwhelming norm for the older American worker. The macroeconomic and microeconomic functions of retirement are distinguished. The ‘selling’ of retirement and the accompanying changes in attitude are illustrated by the treatment of retirement in the media, positive thinking being the dominant ideology. But retirees are often victims of cultural inconsistencies: changes in attitude to work and leisure lag behind changes in workforce participation.