Retirement on the Line (Paperback)

Caitrin Lynch

ISBN 10: 0801477786 / ISBN 13: 9780801477782

Published by Cornell University Press, New York, 2012

About this Item

Paperback. In an era when people live longer and want (or need) to work past the traditional retirement age, the Vita Needle Company of Needham, Massachusetts, provides inspiration and important lessons about the value of older workers. Vita Needle is a family-owned factory that was founded in 1932 and makes needles, stainless steel tubing and pipes, and custom fabricated parts. As part of its unusual business model, the company seeks out older workers; the median age of the employees is seventy-four. In Retirement on the Line, Caitrin Lynch explores what this company's commitment to an elderly workforce means for the employer, the workers, the community, and society more generally. Benefiting from nearly five years of fieldwork at Vita Needle, Lynch offers an intimate portrait of the people who work there, a nuanced explanation of the company's hiring practices, and a cogent analysis of how the workers' experiences can inform our understanding of aging and work in the twenty-first century.As an in-depth study of a singular workplace, rooted in the unique insights of an anthropologist who specializes in the world of work, this book provides a sustained focus on values and meanings-with profound consequences for the broader assumptions our society has about aging and employment. In Retirement on the Line, Caitrin Lynch explores what Vita Needle's commitment to an elderly workforce means for the employer, the workers, the community, and society more generally. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9780801477782

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Retirement on the Line (Paperback)
• Publisher: Cornell University Press, New York
• Publication Date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0801477786
• ISBN 13: 9780801477782
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

In an era when people live longer and want (or need) to work past the traditional retirement age, the Vita Needle Company of Needham, Massachusetts, provides inspiration and important lessons about the value of older workers. Vita Needle is a family-owned factory that was founded in 1932 and makes needles, stainless steel tubing and pipes, and custom fabricated parts. As part of its unusual business model, the company seeks out older workers; the median age of the employees is seventy-four.

In Retirement on the Line, Caitrin Lynch explores what the company's commitment to an elderly workforce means for the employer, the workers, the community, and society more generally. Benefiting from nearly five years of fieldwork at Vita Needle, Lynch offers an intimate portrait of the people who work there, a nuanced explanation of the company's hiring practices, and a cogent analysis of how the workers' experiences can inform our understanding of aging and work in the twenty-first century. As an in-depth study of a singular workplace, rooted in the unique insights of an anthropologist who specializes in the world of work, this book provides a sustained focus on values and meanings―with profound consequences for the broader assumptions our society has about aging and employment.

About the Author

Caitrin Lynch is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Olin College. She is the author of Juki Girls, Good Girls: Gender and Cultural Politics in Sri Lanka’s Global Garment Industry, also from Cornell.