Breaking the Watch: The Meanings of Retirement in America
ISBN: 9781501718410
Platform/Publisher: JSTOR / Cornell University Press
Digital rights: Users: unlimited; Printing: chapter; Download: chapter
Subjects: Retirement -- United States; Retirees -- Recreation -- United States;

Bringing his considerable research skills and experience with other projects on aging to bear on this essentially anecdotal study, Savishinsky (The Ends of Time: Life and Work in a Nursing Home) relates his findings after extensive conversations and interviews with 26 recent retirees (all of them white and middle class) in a small upper New York State community called "Shelby." Nudged into early retirement, former postal worker Nate Rumsfeld found that he and his wife could meet their financial obligations just on his pension and her job as a receptionist. After a brief "honeymoon period," he endured an unanticipated stretch of worry and stress that disturbed his marriage until he was able to occupy himself with part-time employment. On the other hand, 67-year-old Alic Armani, recently divorced from an alcoholic husband, finally was free to pursue the painting career she had dreamed of when she was a young art student after she retired from her job as director of a social service agency. Although his subjects had unique reactions to retiring, Savishinsky does draw some tentative lessons in this quiet study, which is not definitive or wide-ranging enough to appeal to a wide audience. Among other unsurprising conclusions, he believes that those considering retirement should think carefully about it, leave their jobs on a good note and rediscover the passionate interests they may not have had time for during their working lives. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Joel S. Savishinsky is Charles A. Dana Professor in the Social Sciences, Department of Anthropology and the Gerontology Institute at Ithaca College. He is the author of several books, including The Ends of Time: Life and Work in a Nursing Home , winner of the Gerontological Society of America's Kalish Innovative Publication Award.


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