Increasing commodification of life’s time? Subjective life expectancy and intention to retire in two Danish cohorts

Presented by the Institute for Life Course & Aging’s 2023-2024 Seminar Series

About the lecture

This talk will explore the idea of increasing commodification of time and how that may change people’s experience and perception of time in life. Using data from the Danish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (years 2012 and 2017), Dr. Siren will present an empirical analysis of the association between subjective life expectancy and people’s intention to retire in two Danish cohorts (born in 1960 and 1965). The analysis shows that the association between subjective life expectancy and intention to retire has intensified over time (i.e. from the one cohort to another), and a decomposition analysis confirms that people’s estimate of their personal time left now explains a larger proportion of intended retirement behavior than before.

About the featured speaker

Anu Siren is Professor and Chair of Gerontology at Tampere University, Finland. Her research interests are related to the institutional, cultural and material contexts of late life and the way these interact with the individual experience of ageing. Her research deals with various social gerontological topics, including senior co-housing, digitalization of services in ageing society, the role of family relations in late life, and the needs and preferences of future older adults. She is currently interested in exploring the perceptions and lived experiences of time, and the ways in which the societal and individual perceptions of time shape the lives of older adults. Since earning her Ph.D. in 2005 in Finland, Anu worked for 15 years in Denmark, and among other things was responsible for managing the Danish Longitudinal Survey of Ageing (collected since 1997), until joining Tampere University as Professor of Gerontology in spring 2021.