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Knowing How To Quit: On the Finitudes of Everyday Life
Author(s) -
Kearl Michael C.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
sociological inquiry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.446
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1475-682X
pISSN - 0038-0245
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-682x.1986.tb00089.x
Subject(s) - totem , rank (graph theory) , sociology , social psychology , quality (philosophy) , affect (linguistics) , everyday life , order (exchange) , psychology , epistemology , aesthetics , economics , philosophy , mathematics , communication , finance , combinatorics , anthropology
This paper elaborates upon the emergent social psychology of social endings and explicates how culminating behaviors associated with role conclusions in general and with retirement in particular can contribute to both social and personal order. Now that role careers are typically concluded by design rather than by death, invidious comparisons are being drawn and ending strategies rank‐ordered in terms of their desirability. It is hypothesized that some retirements are recognized as being better than others and that our social system is coming to recognize and celebrate those who excel in their role performances until the very end. As illustration, we consider American professional team sports as the cultural totem dramatizing modern work relations and examine how the quality of athlete's career conclusions affect how they are remembered.