Anthropology of Retirement - Life Beyond Work

As a result of growing life expectancy, the period of retirement is likely to surpass the entire period of working life in many countries. There is little acknowledgement that retirement is not an event but an extended period of life that unfolds over several decades. Experiences vary considerably across the globe, from areas where most people cannot afford to retire to places where a multitude of new possibilities are being developed for retirees. This book is an anthropological approach to consider life beyond retirement in a wide range of contexts and consequences.

About the author

Daniel Miller is Professor of Anthropology at University College London and directs the Centre for Digital Anthropology. He was the leader for two major European Research Council five-year funded projects, Why We Post on the use and consequences of social media, and ASSA the Anthropology of Smartphones and Smart Ageing. His most recent books include The Good Enough Life (Polity Books, 2023) and Ageing with Smartphones in Ireland, with Pauline Garvey (UCL Press, 2021).

Pauline Garvey is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Maynooth University.  Recent research projects include the Anthropology of Smartphones and Smart Ageing led by University College London and funded by the European Research Council. Her recent book, with Daniel Miller is entitled Ageing with Smartphones in Ireland: When Life Becomes Craft (UCL Press, 2021). Other works include Unpacking IKEA: Swedish Design for the Purchasing Masses (Routledge, 2018).

Product details

• Authors: Daniel Garvey Miller
• Assisted by: Pauline Garvey (Editor), Garvey Pauline (Editor), Daniel Miller (Editor)
• Publisher: BERGHAHN BOOKS, INC
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 01.07.2025
• EAN: 9781836950370
• ISBN: 978-1-83695-037-0
• No. of pages: 218
• Series: Life Course, Culture and Aging: Global Transformations
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Ethnology > Ethnology; Sociology, Sociology: customs & traditions, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / Social Theory, Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography, Social and cultural anthropology, Retirement, Political and Economic Anthropology; Sociology