ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors examine how disciplinary open-mindedness can raise questions about their taken-for-granted understandings, and offers the potential to contribute new insights. They trace the experiences of senior staff who retired from a UK county council. The authors highlight the relevance of a broader set of disciplines that afford insights not only into our particular cohort but also into career-making more generally. They consider three key issues: patterns in intention to retire versus ‘realized’ retirement, reasons for the retirement decision, and lives after ‘official’ retirement. Demographic studies of retirement often delineate intention to retire from actual retirement – and the disparity between the two can be revealing. Economics is the branch of social science that describes the factors that determine the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services. Gerontology refers to the scientific study of the ageing process at the individual and the societal level.
