This introductory book provides an insight into sociological life course research and informs about its theoretical assumptions, analytical concepts and main results.
Sociological life course research - like biographical research - has developed into an independent and fruitful field of research since the end of the 1960s. It is true that half a century earlier, in their famous study of "The Polish Peasant in Europe and America" (1918-20), Thomas and Znaniecki had already used life records to examine the connection between social change, social structures, and the life histories of individuals. However, such a research perspective was supplanted by other methodological-conceptual approaches to empirical social research for over fifty years. It was not until the 1960s that sociological interest in life course and biographical theoretical issues reawakened. Today, life course research is considered one of the most important conceptual innovations in sociology in recent decades.
The content
The life course as a social construction - What is "life course research"? - The life course as an institution - Collective life courses: generations, cohorts and social change - Structures of the life course - Life course research - a conceptual perspective - Life course research, quo vadis?
The author
Prof. Dr. Matthias Wingens teaches sociology at the University of Bremen, Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS).
Author(s): Matthias Wingens
Publisher: Springer
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 249
City: London
Contents
List of Figures
1: The Life Course as a Social Construction
2: What Is “Life Course Research”?
2.1 A Brief History of Life Course Research
2.2 The Theoretical Concept of Life Course Research
2.2.1 Life Course: A Substantive Definition
2.2.2 “Time Matters!”
3: The Life Course as an Institution
3.1 The Institutionalization of the Life Course
3.2 Institutionalized Life Course and Biographisation of Life Organization
4: Collective Life Courses: Generations, Cohorts and Social Change
4.1 Cohort Studies and Social Change
4.1.1 Inter- and Intracohort Conception
4.1.2 From Cohort to Life Course Analysis
4.2 Historical Generations and Social Change
4.2.1 “Generation”: A Problematic Term?
4.2.2 The Sociological Problem of Generations
4.2.3 Problems and Potentials of the Generation Concept
5: Structures of the Life Course
5.1 The Basic Tripartite Structure of the Life Course
5.2 Social Structuring Factors of the Life Course
5.2.1 “Act Your Age!” – Age-Appropriateness-Ideas and Timetables
5.2.2 Institutional Life Course Structures
5.3 “Normal Life Course” and De-Standardization of the Life Course
5.3.1 The Chronologically Standardized “Normal Life Course”
5.3.2 “De-Institutionalizing” Individualization of the Life Course?
6: Life Course Research: A Conceptual Perspective
6.1 Principles of Life Course Research
6.2 Analytical Concepts of Life Course Research
7: Life Course Research, Quo Vadis?
References
