Opening the stacks
Opening the stacks
A methodological approach focusing on events and trajectories, comparing timing, duration, and rates of change across individuals or groups.
2 chapters across 1 book
Part I of the book explores the emergence and development of the life course perspective as a paradigm in social science research. It traces the historical and methodological shifts from deterministic and stage-based views of aging and development to a dynamic, event-based, and interdisciplinary approach that integrates individual life events with broader social changes. The chapters emphasize the importance of time, social context, and the interaction between individual agency and structural factors in understanding life trajectories.
The chapter "References" provides an extensive and comprehensive list of foundational and contemporary works that underpin life course research, spanning sociology, psychology, demography, and related social sciences. It highlights key theoretical frameworks such as life-course theory, symbolic interactionism, and cohort analysis, alongside methodological approaches including event history analysis, longitudinal studies, and mixed qualitative and quantitative methods. The references collectively emphasize the interdisciplinary nature of life course research, addressing themes such as gender disparities, social mobility, aging, family dynamics, and historical contextualization.