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ABSTRACT
Retiring is a lifelong process that is socially constructed through ongoing interaction with others. However, communication scholars have paid relatively little attention to exploring retirement processes. In this manuscript we contend that applying a life course perspective to twenty first century retirement research illuminates important avenues for future communication scholarship. Specifically, we thematically analyze published retirement research and utilize the principles of a life course perspective (lifespan, agency, historical time/place, timing, linked lives) to organize our findings. Then, we elucidate directions for future research by describing applications of specific communication theories in the retirement context. We conclude by describing how understandings of retirement processes will be enriched by exploring retirement as a communicative process.
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Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. Search functions vary across journals. For example, some allow entry of specific search dates (e.g. 1/1/2000) while others allow only selection of years (e.g. 2000). Some journals allow searching keywords and others only full-text. Despite these differences, our sample offers an accurate representation of the range of retirement scholarship.
2. Nine themes were initially identified. However, aging-in-place (a theme focused on living arrangements) wholly conflated aging and retiring so is not described in this analysis. Two other themes were similar enough to combine for the purposes of this review (‘societal structures’ includes organizational and governmental structures).
3. Defined as ‘a larger cultural narrative that silently shapes local narratives about a given construct by laying cultural resources or norms over local narratives’ (Smith & Dougherty, Citation2012, p. 454)