Chapter 12 A Sociological Perspective for Understanding the Transition to Retirement

Human life course is shaped by a set of consecutive roles, such as being a worker, a spouse and a parent in a standard biography. However, being instantly disengaged from any of these roles may cause devastating effects on people’s lives. This discontinuity not only influences the very dynamics of the meaning of working, but also causes aging labor force to be excluded from the market economy. Experienced workers are drained from the pool of labor force just because they are old. This study aims at focusing on the effects of compulsory retirement both upon individual and upon structure, through the lenses of Political Economy of Aging (PEA) and Human Resources Management (HRM). The PEA perspective proposes a tripartite relationship among state (politics), market (economy) and individual (society), while HRM perspective provides an insight of an effective use of workforce from different generations, including older generation.