Retirement Identity in Modern
Society
The following
ideas are connected to an excellent book that I rediscovered on my upstairs
bookshelf.[i] The authors’ premise argues that since
we are now in a consumer society upon retirement “The individual’s role within
the productive process is no longer central. “Increasingly identities are expressed, revised and
represented through consumption”
In addition
boundaries between the working class and middle class have become blurred.
“Rather than class coming to serve as a cornerstone in people’s sense of self,
that role increasingly is performed through consumption.”
As we become
retired a lot of us have to be more careful about spending what money we have.
It may be more accurate to perceive retirement as a structurally imposed
identity thrust upon older people by a society dominated by the interests of
capitalist economy.”
If that is the
case no wonder that in election debates, aside from the NDP, the major parties
have little to say about the difficulties faced by older people as the society
attempts to plow it’s way through the current “economic downturn”
Especially, as
things get worse governments like those in Canada and the USA discuss finances
in terms of Trillions of dollars.
And instead of expecting seniors to pull us out “… the gap between the
well of and the (relatively) poor older adult population will continue to widen
unless there is a massive expansion of state provision—a scenario that seems
extremely unlikely.”
[i] Gilleard, C. & Higgs, P. (2000). Cultures of
aging: Self. Citizen, and the Body, Pearson Education Limited
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