Whilst in Australia to attend the 1st CEPAR International Conference Partner Investigator James Nazroo will visit The Australian National University and present a public lecture on Age, wellbeing and inequality: Evidence from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.
Retirement from the workforce in industrialised societies has been seen as a transition into an economically dependent situation coupled with declines in social status and health. This focus on older people as dependent, however, neglects evidence of improvements in mental health in the period around retirement age, suggesting that for some, at least, the transition into a 'retired' status is a positive experience. Indeed, there is a growing recognition that Laslett's description of the 'Third Age' as post-work life characterised by opportunity, leisure and self-fulfilment, is a reality for many.
This shift in focus from dependent to healthy and wealthy argentic older people, though, neglects both the complexity of retirement trajectories and the marked inequalities between older people. Intergenerational inequality - comparing the situation of older people with younger people - has been the focus of much work, but it is also appropriate to focus on inequalities within the older population.