ISSA pub. Monograph comprising a comparison of retirement age trends in Western European countries, Hungary and the USA - based on a questionnaire survey, covers the number of old age benefit awards made each year to men and women by age of retired worker, and discusses patterns relating to early retirement and flexible pension scheme provisions (esp. Partial disability benefits for the older worker), etc. Bibliography pp. 162 to 170, graphs, references and statistical tables.

Growing Old in the Twentieth Century investigates many aspects of the current debates raging regarding care and provision for the elderly and the very elderly. It will be invaluable to gerontologists, social policy makers, official and unofficial carers, and anyone involved in health care.

Includes 16 essays which address many issues from a different perspective suggested by the experience of aging in America. This study explores the political, social, and economic realities which have an impact on Americans as they grow older.

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.