The Cornell Study of Occupational Retirement.

This article provides an overview of the Cornell Study of Occupational Retirement, introducing some papers which are progress reports of a longitudinal project in the area of aging and retirement. The Project, which was initiated in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Cornell University, began in 1951 with pilot studies, a review of literature and other research reconnaissance. During 1952 and 1953 the original phase of data gathering was completed at the site of participating organizations throughout the country. The social aspects of aging have become the focus of increasing interest from the standpoints of basic research and social action programs. This growth of research activities and social concern with the process of aging is closely related to three fundamental demographic and social changes which have occurred over a fifty year period: (1) the life span of persons has been extended appreciably; (2) the absolute numbers and the relative proportion of the aged in the general population has been steadily increasing; (3) there has been a marked increase in the number of older persons who retire. Overall, the notions of personal and social adjustment, when carefully used, are useful research tools, and it is in this sense that the concepts are employed in the project's analyses and, presumably, in other analyses which seek clearer understandings of social, psychological and biological processes associated with aging and retirement.