ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author explores the intersections of retirement and socialization using an autoethnographic approach to understand how anticipatory messages about workforce exit are communicated. Specifically, she uses autoethnographic vignettes to punctuate the literature while addressing how expectations about this exit (retirement) are communicated. While socialization messages about organizational exit—in this case retirement—are prevalent throughout our lives from a variety of sources, messages about financial planning seem to permeate the organizational discourse about retirement. F. T. Denton and B. G. Spencer expanded the definition of what it means to “be retired” as they developed seven indicators of retirement. Voluntary retirements are planned exits as the organizational member has control over the timing of the transition. Autoethnography provides the space to problematize these individual understandings of abstract organizational processes, such as retirement and socialization. Autoethnography allows for us to reflect on our individual interpretations of retirement and problematize the prevailing discourse.
