In the early 1980s world recession and widespread unemployment had accentuated an existing trend – more people retiring from work early and living longer after doing so. Some were adequately prepared for a life of well-earned ‘leisure’ in retirement, but too many were not. The policies of employers, unions and governments on retirement needed to be challenged in societies where work opportunities were collapsing but where leisure activities and values were not yet strong enough to take their place. Originally published in 1982, Dr Parker, a sociologist, provides a careful and critical examination of what we knew about retirement and discusses possible alternative answers to the various problems involved at the time. The history of retirement is first considered, followed by a conceptual analysis of types of retirement. There are chapters on preparation for retirement, the capacity of older people to work, and on the varying experiences of retirement. Separate consideration is given to the question of work after retirement age and whether retirement is actually experienced as leisure. The concluding chapter examines various policy alternatives for dealing with the problems raised earlier in the book. Work and Retirement was intended for students of industrial sociology and industrial psychology, for personnel and human resource professionals, for trade unionists and for all those who had an interest in understanding the developments in the field of retirement and the older working population. Now it can be read in its historical context.

“Wise, practical, wryly good-humored, and immensely helpful, this book is a must-read for the millions of boomers entering retirement age.” —Jane Mansbridge, PhD, Adams Professor, Kennedy School, Harvard University A Couple’s Guide to Happy Retirement is the most comprehensive book devoted entirely to relationship issues in retirement. Not a treatise on money management, this is a much-needed guide to the psychological aspects of retirement and how to make your retirement relationship happy, fruitful, loving, and successful. Written by a psychologist specializing in work and family issues, and drawing from actual accounts from retired couples, this book helps you prepare emotionally for the dramatic life changes during retirement, coaches you to find new purposes to your life beyond work, nurtures the relationship with your companion to strengthen your friendship and love, explores sexuality after retirement and how you can enjoy each other as much as you did as a younger couple, and recommends strategies to successfully deal with differences around money, time together versus apart, housework, and family relationships. It is crucial that couples prepare themselves and their marriages psychologically for what could very well comprise a quarter of their lives. A Couple’s Guide to Retirement shows you how to do that—so that you’ll have the time of your lives. “An extremely helpful perspective in meeting the challenge of aging and retirement, young or older.” —James I. Ausman, MD, PhD, and Carolyn R. Ausman, BSS, executive producers and creators of The Leading Gen® “A wise, optimistic, straightforward, and practical guidebook . . . I highly recommend it.” —William Pinsof, PhD, founder and past president of Family Therapy Institute, Northwestern University