Paper short abstract:

This paper looks at the plurality of contributions and life choices of older adults in Europe. It analyses the meaning of hope and anticipation in the cyclical temporality of work, ageing, self-identification and leaving a legacy in a transgenerational vision of life and death.

Paper long abstract:

Retirement as the end of employed work is often understood as a transformative moment in a linear process of the life course. With it, one’s financial situation changes, individual goals transform and the givenness of social relationships is taken away as a condition of everyday life. At the same time, looking at the diverse forms in which older adults can and do participate in their societies and communities, including paid work, volunteering, household and family labour, puts into question the concept as a one for all fit. Not recognising the many abilities, skills, and ideas of those in “the Third Age”, however, misses to recognise their societal contributions, the cultural construction of ageing, and the importance of senior citizens’ expectations for the future.

Based on findings from our long-term research with 96 people aged 65+, this paper looks at the plurality of contributions and life choices of older adults in Europe to analyse the meaning of hope and anticipations. Presenting three individual life stories to exemplify the spectrum of future visions and activities in the later life course, we argue for unsettling the category of retirement by engaging with the cyclical temporality of work, ageing and self-identification as well as the importance to leave a legacy in a transgenerational vision of life and death. Through comparisons we show that hope in later life is not an individual achievement but depends in large parts on existing conditions for the possibility of looking forward to the future approached with anticipation.