Intro -- Contents -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- Acknowledgments -- Abstract -- Abbreviations -- 1. Introduction -- Theoretical Advances in Retirement Research: Beyond the Push-Versus-Pull Dualism -- Retirement and Social Stratification -- Age Norms of Retirement -- Comparative Analytical Strategy and Case Selection -- Methodology -- Structure of the Book -- 2. Theoretical Approaches to Retirement and Early Exit from Work -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 Labour-Supply Theory -- 2.3 Productivity, Human Capital, and Aging -- 2.4 The Sociology of Retirement and the Life Course Perspective -- 2.5 Welfare Regimes and Early Retirement -- 2.6 Summary -- 3. Social Variability in Retirement Behaviour: An Analytical Framework -- 3.1 A Life Course Stratification Approach -- 3.1.1 Work Orientations -- 3.1.2 Age Norms and the Life Course -- 3.1.3 Social Class, Gender and Choice: The Scope of Social Stratification -- 3.1.4 Linked Lives and Family Effects -- 3.1.5 Synthesis: Constraints and Preferences in Retirement Behaviour -- 3.2 Institutions and the Life Course: Establishing the Macro-Micro Linkage -- 3.2.1 Welfare Regimes Revisited -- 3.2.2 Macro-Micro Interactions -- Selection Effects -- Compositional Effects -- Cultural Effects -- 3.3 Methodological Foundations -- 3.3.1 What is Retirement? -- How to Measure Retirement Ages -- Operationalisation of Retirement -- The Retirement Age Indicators by Eurostat and OECD -- 3.3.2 Social Class: Schemes and Controversies -- 4. Too Old to Work, or Too Young to Retire? The Pervasiveness of Age Norms in Western European Socie -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.2 State of Research -- Excursus: The Class-Attitudes Linkage -- 4.3 Competing Hypotheses -- 4.3.1 Instrumental Work Orientations or Age Norms? -- 4.3.2 Class, Gender, and Individualisation -- 4.3.3 Age Cultures, Institutions, and Behaviour.

4.4 Data and Methods -- 4.4.1 Data and Sample -- 4.4.2 Statistical Model -- 4.4.3 Operationalisation of Micro-Level Variables -- 4.4.4 Operationalisation of Macro-Level Variables -- 4.5 Descriptive Findings -- 4.5.1 First Evidence: Too Young to Retire? Too Old to Work? -- 4.5.2 Age Cultures Across Europe -- 4.5.3 Age Norms, Gender, and Social Class -- 4.6 Determinants of Retirement Age Norms at the Micro Level -- 4.6.1 Modelling Strategy -- 4.6.2 Empirical Estimation Results -- 4.7 Determinants of Age Cultures at the Macro Level -- 4.7.1 Modelling Strategy -- 4.7.2 Empirical Estimation Results -- 4.8 Summary -- 5. Differential Retirement Behavior in Western Europe: Social Stratification and Cross-National D -- 5.1 Introduction: Examining Retirement Behavior -- 5.2 Hypotheses -- 5.2.1 Individual Variation -- Gender -- Social Class -- Gender and Social Class -- Household Effects -- 5.2.2 Comparative Perspectives -- Institutional and Structural Factors -- 5.3 Data and Methods -- 5.3.1 Data -- 5.3.2 Statistical Model -- 5.3.3 Operationalisation of Independent Variables -- 5.4 The Determinants of Retirement Timing in Western Europe -- 5.4.1 Survival Analysis: Estimation Results -- 5.4.2 Divergent Pathways to Retirement: A Competing Risks Framework -- 5.4.3 Class Elasticities in Retirement Timing: Agency or Constraints? -- 5.4.4 Time-Varying Class Effects -- 5.5 European Retirement Patterns in Comparison -- 5.5.1 Country Differences in Retirement Patterns -- 5.5.2 Macro Determinants of Retirement Ages: Descriptives -- 5.5.3 Macro Determinants of Retirement Ages: Multivariate Analyses -- 5.5.4 Idiosyncratic Patterns in Micro-Level Effects -- 5.6 Summary -- 6. Retirement Timing and Social Stratification in Spain -- 6.1 Introduction -- 6.2 Labour Market and Structural Change -- 6.3 Institutional Context.

6.3.1 General Features of the Spanish Welfare State -- 6.3.3 Institutional Pathways into Retirement -- 6.3.4 Unemployment Benefits and Labour Market Flexibilisation -- 6.4 Hypotheses -- 6.4.1 Gender -- 6.4.2 Social Class -- 6.5 Results -- 6.5.1 Data and Methods -- 6.5.2 Descriptive Results -- 6.5.3 Multivariate Survival Analysis -- 6.5.4 Competing Risks Models: The Social Selectivity of Pathways into Retirement -- 6.5.5 Duration Selection Models: Controlling for Inactivity -- 6.6 Summary -- 7. Retirement Timing and Social Stratification in Germany -- 7.1 Introduction -- 7.2 Labour Market and Structural Change -- 7.3 Institutional Context -- 7.3.1 General Features of the German System of Social Welfare -- 7.3.2 Pensions and Retirement Incentives -- 7.3.3 Institutional Pathways into Retirement -- 7.3.4 Raising Pension Ages -- 7.3.5 Unemployment Benefits and Labour Market Flexibilisation -- 7.4 Hypotheses -- 7.4.1 Gender -- 7.4.2 Social Class -- 7.4.3 Family Effects -- 7.5 Results -- 7.5.1 Data and Methods -- 7.5.2 Descriptive Results -- 7.5.3 Multivariate Survival Analysis -- 7.5.4 Competing Risks: The Social Selectivity of Pathways into Retirement -- 7.5.5 Duration Selection Models: Controlling for Inactivity -- 7.6 Summary -- 8. Conclusions -- Retirement Age Norms -- Retirement and Gender -- Retirement and Social Class -- Retirement and Cross-Country Diversity -- Limitations and Future Research -- Concluding Remarks -- References -- Index.

The book addresses a timely issue that attracts both researchers and policy-makers: the factors explaining early retirement. The study uses cutting-edge methodology to produce fresh empirical evidence that sheds a new light on the processes of leaving work and challenges occasionally the conventional wisdom on the cross-national differences in retirement ages.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2022. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.