Clocking out: Temporal patterning of retirement

This article draws on life history data of the cohorts of recent U.S. retir ees to examine the temporal patterning of retirement. Three major dimension s-historical context, social heterogeneity, and, most important, biographic al pacing, measured by cohort, gender, and career pathway, respectively-ope rate simultaneously, yet unevenly, to affect various aspects of the retirem ent process. Findings suggest that changes over the past few decades have u ndermined the regularity in retirement timing that was a product of the con vergence of diverse institutional features, anchored by a large core of men on traditional career tracks. Focusing on retirement, our model underscore s the multiplex nature of the temporal structuring of the life course.