12.1 OCCUPATIONAL CHOICE AND DEVELOPMENT
The Meaning of Work • The Changing Nature of Work • Occupational Choice • Occupational Development • Job Satisfaction • How Do We Know? Periodicity and Job Satisfaction
12.2 GENDER, ETHNICITY, BIAS, AND DISCRIMINATION
Gender Differences in Occupational Choice • Women and Occupational Development • Ethnicity and Occupational Development • Bias and Discrimination
12.3 OCCUPATIONAL TRANSITIONS
Retraining Workers • Occupational Insecurity and Job Loss
12.4 DUAL-EARNER COUPLES
The Dependent Care Dilemma • Juggling Multiple Roles • Current Controversies: Division of Labor and Role Conflict in Dual-Earner Couples
12.5 LEISURE ACTIVITIES
Types of Leisure Activities • Developmental Changes in Leisure • Consequences of Leisure Activities
12.6 RETIREMENT
What Does Being Retired Mean? • Discovering Development: Are You "Retired"?
• Why do People Retire? • Planning for Retirement • Adjustment to Retirement
• Interpersonal Ties
SOCIAL POLICY IMPLICATIONS
Summary • Review Questions • Integrating Concepts in Development • Key Terms
• Resources
STROM THURMOND (1902-2003) WAS THE LONGEST-SERVING U. S. SENATOR. HIS TERM EXTENDED
from 1954 to 2003 when he retired at the ripe old age of 100. He ended up completing 48 years in office. Was he too old to serve? Praises from his colleagues and his continuing accomplishments suggest not. For example, he was the senior member of the Judiciary Committee; he chaired the Senate Armed Services Committee and was the senior member of the Veterans Affairs Committees. After being dogged by questions about his age, Thurmond said that his opponents should stop digging at his age, and start talking about the issues. When asked about retirement, he laughed, and said he’d have to think about that.
Strom Thurmond’s tenure as U. S. senator at such an advanced age reflects some of the key issues we will examine in this chapter, especially in the section on retirement. First, we will examine how people choose occupations and how they develop in their occupations. However, there are obstacles to occupational development. Thus, next we will explore such obstacles including discrimination and bias issues. Given the current fluctuations in occupational status, we will explore how individuals make transitions within their occupation as well as to other occupations. Finally, we will answer two important questions. How do people spend time when they are not working? And what happens to them after they retire?
As will become clear, research addressing these questions about work has focused primarily on middle-class European American men; far less is known about women or about other ethnic groups. Although more research on women and on other ethnic groups is being conducted, we must be careful in applying existing research and theory to these other groups until data have been compiled.