The Emergence of Life Course Studies and Theory

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The Emergence of Life Course Studies and Theory
Glen H. Elder, Jr. Howard W. Odum Distinguished
Professor of Sociology The University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill Institute of
Sociology, Academia SinicaTaiwan March 7, 2003
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The Emergence of Life Course Thinking in the
1960s

• Maturation of early child development samples
  born in the 1920s and 1930s
• Emergence of social history
• Rapidity of social change
• Aging of society
• Cultural diversity
• Longitudinal studies

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Theoretical Challenges Late 1950s, Early 1960s

• A way of thinking about the pathways,
  organization, and dynamics of lives, human
  development, and aging
• Relating human lives to their changing times
  the challenge of taking the Long View of people
• Concepts of human development and aging that
  apply across the life span

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Context and Organism

• Life course Context without organism
• Life Span Organism without context
• Developmental Life Course Organism in dynamic
  relation to context

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Three Pathways to BoysProblem Behavior and
Delinquency
Late
Few
Age of Onset
Boys
Early
Many
SOURCE Rolf Loeber and Dale F. Hay. 1994.
Developmental Approaches to Aggression and
Conduct Problems. Pp. 488-515 in Development
Through Life A Handbook for Clinicians, edited
by Michael Rutter and Dale F. Hay. Oxford
Blackwell Scientific.
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Ways of Thinking about Social Trajectories

• Careers of work, family
• New concept of multiple careers, synchronization
• Life cycle theory
• Stages of parenthood, from generation to
  generation
• Neglect of life stage, age-graded transitions,
  and historical context

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Analytical Responses to Development out of
Context

• Life Span Typically linked to developmental
  psychology
• Life Course Age-graded life course in time and
  place

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Social Age and the Life Course
The life course is age-graded through
institutions and social structures, and it is
embedded in relationships that constrain and
support behavior Both the individual life
course and a persons developmental trajectory
are interconnected with the lives and development
of others.
Elder, 1998, pp. 951-952
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Age-Grading in Human Lives

• Age expectations and norms
• Age-graded states or statuses
• Duration of state or status
• Linked states and durations add up to life
  trajectories

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Age in Peoples Lives

• Timing of life transitions early, on-time,
  late concept of timetables and social clocks
• Disorderly transitions and events transitions
  occur out of usual sequence
• Duration in a particular status
• Life stage and historical location

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The Life Course of Unwed Motherhood
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Physical Health Trajectories
Constant Good Health
Constant Poor Health
Decline and Recovery
Linear Decline
Decline at End of Life
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Cohorts, Cycles, and Generations

• Cohorts
• Cohorts and their heterogeneity
• Are generations the same thing as cohorts?
• Cohorts and generations

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Birth Cohorts
50
40
30
Young Adulthood
Age Structure
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Adolescence
10
Childhood
0
1950
1940
1930
1920
1910
1900
Birth Year
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What is a Birth Cohort?

• A social category Bronfenbrenners social
  address model
• Properties of a cohort
• historical location and place, life chances
• relative size of cohort
• composition of cohort SES, ethnicity
• member exposure to social change
• Specifying social and cultural processes that
  link historical change to developmental processes
  in lives
• Lives as lived experiences the life course
  worked out by individuals
• Are generations the same thing as cohorts
• Cohorts and generations

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A Comparative Analysis of Chinese Cohorts in
Historical Context
Calendar Year and Historical Epochs
Cultural Revolution
Post-
Great
Post-
World War II and Civil War
Creation of Socialist State
Institutionalization
Great Leap
Leap
Mao
of Reforms
II
I
Recovery
Forward
Reforms
1940
1950
1960
1970
1980
Mobilization
Mobilization
Mobilization
Mobilization
Institutionalization
Institutionalization
Institutionalization
Institutionalization
Birth Cohorts
1924-31
1932-39
1940-47
1948-55
1956-63
a) Youth refers to ages 13-20. The median age is
16.
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Three Generations in a Survey Cross Sectional
80 (born 1900)
50 (born 1930)
Life Span
(Retrospective History)
20
(Retrospective History)
(Retrospective History)
0
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Life-Course Trajectories in Three-Dimensional
Space Life, Family, and History
Family Time
G1 as P
Historical Time (birth year and cohort)
G2 as P/C
Lifetime In C.A. (years)
1920
1940
1960
1980
2000
1900
100
80
G3 as P/C
60
40
Gn as C
20
0
G1 - Oldest generation, no surviving parent G2 -
Next oldest generation with living parent and
child G3 - Next oldest generation with living
parent and child Gn - Member of youngest
generation (based on Hagestad, 1982)
Ever changing through time
Note. From Review of Child Development Research,
Vol. 7 The Family An Interdisciplinary
Perspective (p. 123), edited by R. D. Parke,
1984. Chicago University of Chicago Press.
Reprinted with permission.
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The Emergence of Life Course Theory and Studies
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The Emergence of Life Course TheoryResearch
Traditions and Their Concepts
Life Cycle and the Generations Life cycle of
social roles,generational succession Social
roles, status, role-playing Role transitions
and sequences Socialization as role/social
learning Intergenerational relations,exchange S
ocial networks, capital
Life Course Theory 1960s to present
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Multi-Level Concept of Life Course

• Developmental transition and trajectory
• Individual life course the social trajectories
  of individuals
• Social pathways institutionalized life course

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Framing Statements and Points of Entry
Macro
Framing statement oninstitutional influences
Micro
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The Evolution of Life Course Studies
Data
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Asking New Questions of Old DataSteps in the
Research Process
Problem Specification
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Fitting Model to Data
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Principles of Life Course Theory
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Principle of Life-Long Development
Human development and aging are lifelong
processes.
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The SES Gradient in Self-Esteem and Health
Cumulative
SES Effects
Self-Esteem Effects
Later Life
Life Course
Youth
SES
Self-Esteem
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Principle of Human Agency
Individuals construct their own life course
through the choices and actions they take within
the opportunities and constraints of history and
social circumstances.
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Principle of Historical Time and Place
The life course of individuals is embedded in and
shaped by the historical times and places they
experience over their lifetime.
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A Cross-National Perspective on the Relation
between Education and Work in the Transition to
Adulthood
Japan
Education
Workers recruitedout of schools
Germany
Education
Work
Vocational apprenticeshipor working class
United Kingdom
Education
Work
Explicit Job Training
United States
Education
Work
Training Uncertain
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Principle of Timing in Lives
The developmental impact of a succession of life
transitions or events is contingent on when they
occur in a persons life.
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Principle of Linked Lives
Lives are lived interdependently, and social and
historical influences are expressed through this
network of shared relationships.
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glen_elder_at_unc.edu http//www.unc.edu/elder