What does retirement mean for ordinary people? That’s the question Bob Weiss at UMass Boston’s Gerontology Center is looking into.
He knows what he is talking about from personal experience. Several years ago he retired from the sociology faculty at the university only to emerge later as a researcher into the same phenomenon which he had tasted for himself.
In his latest project my friend Bob has been interviewing in depth eleven people from the Greater Boston area. “What’s happening in your life that matters?” is what he most wants to know from each person. “What engages your emotions?”
Some of the answers may interest readers of this column, both those already retired and those who have given some thought to that stage of life.
Bob finds that people tend to establish a steady routine for each day and for the year as a whole. The main forces that interfere with this routine are kin ties and illness.
Their prevailing view of themselves as retired people is either
- “you’ve earned it,” or
- “you’re out of it.”
They say such things as “retirement is much less stressful than work” and “but you’re no longer engaged.”
Some of those interviewed came to retirement through a buy-out. In every buyout story, people talk about how the organization changed.
They speak of themselves as “keeping the faith” but coming up against an administration that did not care. Many say that their workplace was no long the place it had been before.
The way in which retirement occurred has a strong impact on people’s feeling about themselves and the organization. When employees are pushed out, strong resentment continues. Even when they choose to go, they often have strong feelings of discomfort. But those who leave because of ill health receive expressions of regret and understanding.
Retirees continue to feel friendly toward members of their immediate work group. Whatever resentment they feel is not directed toward their co-workers. Their association with these former colleagues remains thin, however.
Bob Weiss has been surprised by two retirement issues. The first is the concern some people feel about transportation. The wife of one retiree says, “I think transportation is one of the biggest problems because it connects with everything else.” This woman and her husband still drive but she worries about what will happen when and if they cannot.
The second surprise comes from the way some marriages develop in retirement. Some spouses form closer partnerships and plan activities together. Others, however, become almost like roommates. These spouses say they don’t want to spend too much time together.
A new phenomenon that Bob has noticed is the subtly changing image of retirement itself. One does not see so many ads depicting it as an idyllic time full of unending pleasures. It’s as if advertisers have started to recognize that retirement too has its issues and challenges.
Bob considers the following as his most important single finding about retirement: the best single predictor of what life in retirement will be like is life before retirement. He thinks that only three or four people out of every hundred change their lives in any notable way after they retire.
Not surprisingly, many people in retirement say they love to travel. However, evidence points toward a slacking off in this activity after a while. Travel tends to lose its luster.
Just about everybody loves being a grandparent. But that’s not the same as wanting to spend a lot of time with grandchildren. This saying rings true for many when they speak about their children’s kids: “It’s wonderful when they come and it’s wonderful when they go.”
Professor Weiss raises the question about nature’s plan for later life. He notes that evolution sometimes gets criticized for allowing us to live so long after the child-bearing and child-rearing years. The answer, he suggests, may be that society benefits from having back-up couples in the form of grandparents to supply help to their children’s families when needed.
How do husbands feel about their wives continuing to work? Bob Weiss finds a double standard. He explains it thus: “Husbands refuse to attack women’s working but sabotage is fine.” They do not feel free to be openly negative about this continued work but they do not really like it.
Some wives themselves do not wish to continue working after their husbands retire. As one says, “I don’t want to keep working and have him get older so that we can’t do things together.”
Bob Weiss summarizes his overall findings thus: “Retirement is a mixed experience. People do value freedom. You can express the best and the worst in one sentence – – ‘You don’t have to go out in the slush if you don’t want to.’”
Richard Griffin