Changing Priorites, Transformed Opportunities?

Abstract

In addressing why some people work after state pension aage, this paper draws upon recent qualitative research to argue tht work decisions reflect long-standing dispositions and priorities, and are critically informed by opportunity structures. drawing upon a typolgy distinguishing between 'workers' and 'professionals' and creatives', and within these subgroups pf 'entrepeneurs' and 'portfolio workers', which relfect particular patterns of self-employment tha paper illustrates that qualitatively different meanings are associated with work, nd agrues tht class distinctions form the basis of particular sets of priorites and practices. Work orientations are considered against the context of opportunity structures, including work intensification, restructuring nd the decline of traditional industries, and shifts in health nd care responsibilities, which may revise people's options at state pension age. Revisiting the traditional relationshop between class and work, examining both cultural and economic factors, new conceptual insight may be gained into the reproduction nd persistence of social inequalities over the life course.