ABSTRACT
The centrality of the World of Work and the role of worker in American culture has been frequently mentioned. Similarly, retirement has frequently been claimed to be a central problem in the aging process, perhaps its most important crisis of transition. And yet, as a style of life, as judged by orientation, values, and the ways decisions were made, the World of Work appeared in only twenty-five of the cases in this panel, or less than one-sixth. When it did appear, it tended to appear very clearly; twenty-two of the twenty-five were rated 1 on degree of style, one was rated 2, and two were rated 3. As might be expected, more men than women had this style, but the degree of sex difference was rather surprising-twenty to five. Many of the women in this panel worked, but in only five cases did work become their style of life.
