Deck 10: Is Retirement Obsolete

Question 1

During the 20th century, free time increased in all of the following ways except through:

A) Increased vacation time
B) Later entry into the workforce for the young
C) Earlier retirement for the old
D) A reduction of the work week
E) None of the above

Answer 1

D

Question 2

More and more people are working into years traditionally regarded as a time of retirement.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

After the recession in 2008 many people in their 50s and 60s began wondering if they would be able to afford to retire.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

"Productive aging," as defined by Caro, Bass, and Chen, includes which of the following activities?

A) Paid employment
B) Volunteering
C) Visiting with family and friends
D) All of the above
E) A and B above

Question 5

"Bridge jobs" that allow older workers to gradually transition from the fulltime workforce.

Question 6

According to Ekerdt, individuals who uphold the "busy ethic" include which of the following?

A) Older workers and retirees
B) Friends, relatives, and coworkers of older workers and retirees
C) Institutional conservators, such as those who market products and services to older adults
D) All of the above
E) A and B above

Question 7

According to Freedman, older Americans possess which of the following resources that other age groups lack?

A) Discretionary income
B) Health
C) Education
D) Time
E) None of the above

Question 8

Retirement is a one-time transition from full-time work around the age of 65.

Question 9

Older workers have less absenteeism, lower job turnover, and a lower accident rate than younger workers.

Question 10

A majority of workers in the United States are covered by pension plans.

Question 11

Mandatory retirement was abolished by law in ______.

A) 1964
B) 1969
C) 1972
D) 1986
E) 1996

Question 12

Freedman is baffled that older Americans do not do more volunteering for which of the following reasons?

A) Many older people want to be more involved
B) Social ties and community engagement have been linked to better physical and mental health
C) Older adults vote at a higher rate than any other age group
D) All of the above
E) A and B above

Question 13

A standard 40-hour work week was established in the United States in 1960.

Question 14

While life expectancy has increased by more than 50 percent since 1900, the period of time spent in retirement has increased even more dramatically.

Question 15

Between the 1950s and the 1990s, the average age of retirement ______.

A) increased
B) decreased
C) remained the same

Question 16

Research has demonstrated that retirement is bad for older adults' health and that they often die soon after leaving the work force.

Question 17

People have an individual choice about retiring only if they can count on enough income to support themselves without working.

Question 18

_______ introduced age 65 as the basis for retirement pensions.

A) President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
B) Roger Cornell
C) Futurist Graham Molitor
D) Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismarck
E) None of the above

Question 19

According to the American Time Use Survey retirees spend more than half their leisure time watching television.

Question 20

Which law forbade older workers from being limited or treated in any way that would harm their employment possibilities?

A) Social Security Act of 1935
B) Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation Act of 1997
C) Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967
D) Department of Labor Anti-Discrimination Law of 1989
E) None of the above

Question 21

According to Ekerdt, workers nearing retirement show a decreased level of commitment to work and observance of values about work.

Question 22

The "busy ethic" provides moral continuity to the transition from work to retirement.

Question 23

In your opinion, is retirement still a valid way to think about the way older adults spend their later years? Is retirement becoming obsolete?

Question 24

What does Manheimer mean by "creative retirement"? What advice would you give Gale and Cliff on how to have a creative retirement?

Question 25

According to Manheimer, people who choose to retire creatively should first be concerned with what gives them satisfaction.

Question 26

According to Caro, Bass and Chen, what factors led to the institutionalization of retirement in the United States?

Question 27

A "creative retirement" is accessible primarily to those who are privileged.

Question 28

What is meant by the "busy ethic"? What value does the busy ethic have for older workers and retirees?

Question 29

Do you agree or disagree with Freedman that older adults should contribute more of their time to overworked families in the middle generation? Explain.

Question 30

Describe trends in labor force participation and retirement among men and women over the last several decades. How do older adults remain productive, even beyond the traditional age of labor force withdrawal? Explain.

Question 31

In reflecting upon your current attitudes toward work, what expectations for your post-work years to you imagine for your future older self? To what extent do current patterns in work and retirement reflect your experiences?

Question 32

Caro, Bass, and Chen argue that chronological age is a strong predictor of performance in physical and mental activities.

Question 33

According to time-dairy studies cited by Freedman, retirement frees up more time for men than for women.

Question 34

"Creative retirement" has more to do with how people choose to spend their time in retirement than with how they experience, feel, and think about the ways they are engaged with others.

Question 35

In what ways is retirement problematic?

Question 36

Why is there only limited participation of older people in the paid work force and in volunteer capacities? How might these obstacles to "productive aging" be overcome, according to the authors?

Question 37

According to Caro, Bass and Chen, "productive aging" includes nearly all activities of older people, including education for personal growth.

Question 38

Ekerdt argues that in newly retired individuals, the work ethic is transformed into a "busy ethic" and an "ideology of pensions."