In most Western societies, it has become widely accepted that the combination of demographic ageing and pressure to reduce public spending should necessarily result in the delaying of retirement, usually along with reforms to existing pension schemes. Largely promoted by international bodies such as the OECD throughout the 1st decade of the 21st Century, this vision of extending working lives (EWL) as a universal solution to a number of social ills has been actively challenged by social mobilisations and is being increasingly questioned by inter-disciplinary, comparative academic research projects (e.g. COST Action IS1409 Gender & Health Impacts of Policies Extending Working Life in Western Countries http://genderewl.com/).

In line with the overall objectives of the Congress, this Workshop addresses the Future of work by inviting participants to critically assess the importance and the social consequences of such challenges to the Fordist (androcentric) life-course tryptic “education – employment – [early] retirement”.