Illuminating Existential Meaning: A New Approach in the Study of Retirement
08 Feb 2021-Qualitative sociology review (Uniwersytet Lodzki (University of Lodz))-Vol. 17, Iss: 1, pp 196-214
TL;DR: The importance of retirement is largely built on statistical analyses of longitudinal data showing that well-being seldom changes from before to after entering retirement, b... as discussed by the authors, which is not the case in many other studies.
Abstract: Current discussions on the importance of retirement are largely built on statistical analyses of longitudinal data showing that well-being seldom changes from before to after entering retirement, b ...
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TL;DR: In some religious traditions, the myth of the ‘Fall from the Garden of Eden’ symbolizes the loss of the primordial state through the veiling of higher consciousness.
Abstract: Human beings are described by many spiritual traditions as ‘blind’ or ‘asleep’ or ‘in a dream.’ These terms refers to the limited attenuated state of consciousness of most human beings caught up in patterns of conditioned thought, feeling and perception, which prevent the development of our latent, higher spiritual possibilities. In the words of Idries Shah: “Man, like a sleepwalker who suddenly ‘comes to’ on some lonely road has in general no correct idea as to his origins or his destiny.” In some religious traditions, such as Christianity and Islam, the myth of the ‘Fall from the Garden of Eden’ symbolizes the loss of the primordial state through the veiling of higher consciousness. Other traditions use similar metaphors to describe the spiritual condition of humanity:
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783 citations
TL;DR: In Vital Involvement in Old Age, the three investigators present the results of their interviews with 29 men and women, aged 75 to 95 years, first encountered as parents of children studied developmentally since the 1930s.
Abstract: Most longitudinal studies of adult development end in middle or late middle age. The logistical difficulties of following up people for prolonged periods may only partially explain this gap in our knowledge. Another explanation is that most developmental researchers have not yet themselves reached old age. Their personal inexperience with this stage of life is a significant handicap in their ability to understand the questions it raises.Erik Erikson, the 95-year-old grandfather of the empirical study of normal development, is in a unique position to fill this gap in psychological research. Along with his wife and a younger colleague, he had followed up a group first encountered as parents of children studied developmentally since the 1930s. In Vital Involvement in Old Age, the three investigators present the results of their interviews with these 29 men and women, aged 75 to 95 years. Unlike the subjects of cross-sectional studies of the
319 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this age of modern era, the use of internet must be maximized, as one of the benefits is to get the loneliness of the dying book, as the world window, as many people suggest.
Abstract: In this age of modern era, the use of internet must be maximized. Yeah, internet will help us very much not only for important thing but also for daily activities. Many people now, from any level can use internet. The sources of internet connection can also be enjoyed in many places. As one of the benefits is to get the on-line the loneliness of the dying book, as the world window, as many people suggest.
128 citations
TL;DR: It is argued that a deeper understanding of the existential driving forces, that both cause physicians to accept post-retirement mentoring tasks and that is awakened and developed in this specific work, would contribute to a deeperUnderstanding of why individuals continue working into old age.
Abstract: The article addresses physicians who work as group supervisors or mentors in a training program after having formally retired. The driving forces to continue to work are analyzed in terms of the development of existential meaning of work at a particular stage of the life cycle. We argue that a deeper understanding of the existential driving forces, that both cause physicians to accept post-retirement mentoring tasks and that is awakened and developed in this specific work, would contribute to a deeper understanding of why individuals continue working into old age. However, in political discussions of an extended working life, similar aspects tend to be disregarded. Understanding the existential driving forces that cause an individual to continue working after retirement may be crucial to comprehending how we can take advantage of the resources of the older workforce and, thus, realize human potential at a later stage of the life cycle.
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Cites background from "Illuminating Existential Meaning: A..."
...An existential sociology approach focus on how individuals, under the influence of the inexorable condition of finitude, create meaning in multifaceted ways ( Bengtsson & Flisbäck 2021)....
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...…existential awareness that emerges through the aging process, existential meaning seems to be constructed or become more prominent in different situations along the life path, not least in connection with the approaching conclusion of professional life (cf. Jonsson 2000; Bengtsson & Flisbäck 2021)....
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...Thus, tasks are considered based on what the interviewees find meaningful in relation to the time they believe they have left (cf. Bengtsson & Flisbäck 2021)....
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...The interviewee’s story indicates how the driving forces that cause people to choose an extended working life can be weighed against the time they imagine they have left and other aspects of life that are considered meaningful (cf. Bengtsson & Flisbäck 2021)....
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References
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Book•
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01 Jan 1927
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present an interpretation of Dasein in terms of temporality, and the Explication of Time as the Transcendental Horizon for the Question of Being.
Abstract: Translators' Preface. Author's Preface to the Seventh German Edition. Introduction. Exposition of the Question of the Meaning of Being. 1. The Necessity, Structure, and Priority of the Question of Being. 2. The Twofold Task of Working out the Question of Being. Method and Design of our Investigation. Part I:. The Interpretation of Dasein in Terms of Temporality, and the Explication of Time as the Transcendental Horizon for the Question of Being. 3. Preparatory Fundamental Analysis of Dasein. Exposition of the Task of a Preparatory Analysis of Dasein. Being-in-the-World in General as the Basic State of Dasein. The Worldhood of the World. Being-in-the-World as Being-with and Being-One's-Self. The 'they'. Being-in as Such. Care as the Being of Dasein. 4. Dasein and Temporality. Dasein's Possibility of Being-a-Whole, and Being-Towards-Death. Dasein's Attestation of an Authentic Potentiality-for-Being, and Resoluteness. Dasein's Authentic Potentiality-for-Being-a-Whole, and Temporality as the Ontological Meaning of Care. Temporality and Everydayness. Temporality and Historicality. Temporality and Within-Time-Ness as the Source of the Ordinary Conception of Time. Author's Notes. Glossary of German Terms. Index.
16,708 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the self: ontological security and existential anxiety are discussed, as well as the trajectory of the self, risk, and security in high modernity, and the emergence of life politics.
Abstract: Acknowledgements Introduction 1. The contours of high modernity 2. The self: ontological security and existential anxiety 3. The trajectory of the self 4. Fate, risk, and security 5. The sequestration of experience 6. Tribulations of the self 7. The emergence of life politics Notes Glossary of concepts Index.
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Book•
01 Jan 1991
TL;DR: In the context of a post-traditional order, the self becomes a reflexive project as mentioned in this paper, which is not a term which has much applicability to traditional cultures, because it implies choice within plurality of possible options, and is 'adopted' rather than 'handed down'.
Abstract: The reflexivity of modernity extends into core of the self. Put in another way, in the context of a post-traditional order, the self becomes a reflexive project. One concerns the primacy of lifestyle — and its inevitability for the individual agent. Lifestyle is not a term which has much applicability to traditional cultures, because it implies choice within plurality of possible options, and is 'adopted' rather than 'handed down'. Lifestyle choices and life planning are not just 'in', or constituent of, the day-to-day life of social agents, but form institutional settings which help to shape their actions. Of course, for all individuals and groups, life chances condition lifestyle choices. Life planning is a specific example of a more general phenomenon that author shall discuss in some detail in subsequent chapter as the 'colonisation of the future'. In the reflexive project of the self, the narrative of self-identity is inherently fragile. Moreover, the pure relationship contains internal tensions and even contradictions.
12,430 citations
"Illuminating Existential Meaning: A..." refers background in this paper
...Thus, the retirement process can be seen as decoupling from a collective context and, like other individualization processes, can be interpreted as a life transition whereby questions of meaning and quality of life become particularly prominent (cf. Frankl 1988; Giddens 1991)....
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TL;DR: In The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912), Emile Durkheim set himself the task of discovering the enduring source of human social identity as discussed by the authors, and investigated what he considered to be the simplest form of documented religion - totemism among the Aborigines of Australia.
Abstract: 'If religion generated everything that is essential in society, this is because the idea of society is the soul of religion.' In The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912), Emile Durkheim set himself the task of discovering the enduring source of human social identity. He investigated what he considered to be the simplest form of documented religion - totemism among the Aborigines of Australia. Aboriginal religion was an avenue 'to yield an understanding of the religious nature of man, by showing us an essential and permanent aspect of humanity'. The need and capacity of men and women to relate socially lies at the heart of Durkheim's exploration, in which religion embodies the beliefs that shape our moral universe. The Elementary Forms has been applauded and debated by sociologists, anthropologists, ethnographers, philosophers, and theologians, and continues to speak to new generations about the origin and nature of religion and society. This new, lightly abridged edition provides an excellent introduction to Durkheim's ideas. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
6,633 citations
Book•
28 Mar 2011
TL;DR: The first edition of "Eichmann in Jerusalem" appeared as a series of articles in "The New Yorker" in 1963 and was later published as a book in 1970 as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Hannah Arendt's portrayal of the terrible consequences of blind obedience, "Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil" contains an introduction by Amos Elon in "Penguin Classics". Sparking a flurry of heated debate, Hannah Arendt's authoritative and stunning report on the trial of German Nazi SS leader Adolf Eichmann first appeared as a series of articles in "The New Yorker" in 1963. This revised edition includes material that came to light after the trial, as well as Arendt's postscript commenting on the controversy that arose over her book. A major journalistic triumph by an intellectual of singular influence, "Eichmann in Jerusalem" is as shocking as it is informative - a meticulous and unflinching look at one of the most unsettling (and unsettled) issues of the twentieth century. Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) was for many years University Professor of Political Philosophy in the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research and a Visiting Fellow of the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago. She is also the author of "Eichmann in Jerusalem", "On Revolution", and "Between Past and Future". If you enjoyed "Eichmann in Jerusalem", you might like Elie Wiesel's "Night", available in "Penguin Modern Classics". "Deals with the greatest problem of our time ...the problem of the human being within a modern totalitarian system". (Bruno Bettelheim, "The New Republic"). "A profound and documented analysis...Bound to stir our minds and trouble our consciences". ("Chicago Tribune").
2,986 citations