Successful Life Trajectories in Old Age

The paper presents interim results of a project currently carried out by a group of researchers, including the author, at the Institute of Scientific Information on Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow. The project is devoted to individual successful life trajectories. By means of semi-structured in-depth interviews, it studies biographies of Russians who manage to adapt to social changes, change their life routes if necessary and thus succeed, those who gain more than lose on the way. Along with young adults (aged 22–35 years) and middle-aged people (over 36 years), older people (aged 55–60 years and over) are interviewed (the author is in charge of this part of the project). The latter continue working, start their own business or, retiring, master new areas of activity (computer and the Internet, foreign languages, creative hobbies) and feel satisfied with their life, therefore they can be said to be aging successfully.