ABSTRACT
The question how macro-level ‘institutions’ shape the life courses of individuals has received increasing attention from sociologists during recent decades. So far, however, much of this research has analyzed mid-life or early-career trajectories such as the transition from school to work. Comparative research on the later life course has predominantly focused on the timing of retirement and, to a lesser extent, on other types of labor market transitions. Few studies have taken a truly comparative perspective on the income trajectories of older workers and retirees, even though household income mobility undoubtedly is a crucial life course outcome (DiPrete 2002; Mayer 2005). This study has addressed this research gap by examining mobility processes among workers ages 50 and older in Germany and the United States – two countries that are important reference points in the literatures on varieties of capitalism (Hall and Soskice 2001b) and welfare regimes (Esping-Andersen 1990): Germany is usually considered as the prime example of a coordinated market economy with a conservative/ corporatist welfare state and the us as a liberal market economy with a liberal/residual welfare state.
