‘When I’m 65’: On the Age-negotiated Duty to Work

The duty to work is an unquestionable norm in contemporary welfare systems. Nonetheless, as argued in this article, duty to work can be negotiable, and there are age norms that can be used to loosen its otherwise rigid character. This interview-based article follows the work rehabilitation stories of 57 men and women who, in making sense of their illnesses, rehabilitation and work, recurrently use age norms to validate their accounts. In the...