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1.8: The Life Course Perspective

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    The life course perspective is prominent within the fields of family sociology and aging. It is a lens with which to view the age-related transitions that are socially created and are recognized and shared by members of a society. It aids in our understanding of change among individuals and populations over time by looking at the interrelation between individual biography and historical social structures. \({ }^8\)

    The life course perspective is a theoretical framework that focuses on the timing of events that occur in an individual's lifetime. A life course view of marriage is of an ongoing career that occurs within the context of other life course events. \({ }^9\) The essential elements of the life course perspective include five themes: 1.) multiple time clocks, 2.) social context of development, 3.) dynamic view of process and change, 4.) heterogeneity in structures and processes, and 5.) a multidisciplinary view.

    The first element is a focus on multiple time clocks or events that impact the individual. These multiple time clocks include ontogenetic, or individual, time which is comprised of personal events, generational time which consists of family transitions or events, and historical time which refers to social events. It is crucial to recognize the importance of the interactions of these time frames, since for instance historical events will impact individual's life trajectories, such as the events of war or economic depression.
    Changes over historical time, such as the advent of no-fault divorce interact with generational time to increase the number of children whose parent's divorce, which in turn interacts with individual time and may bring about a personal choice to divorce.

    Second, the social context of development is also a focus of this perspective. One's location within the broader social structure, the social creation of meanings, cultural context and change, and the interplay of macro- and micro-levels of development play an important role in the life course perspective.

    Third, the life course perspective has a dynamic view of process and change. It focuses on the dialectic of continuity and change in human development. Age, period, and cohort effects are linked by their interaction with one another link microlevel and macrolevel phenomena. This perspective allows the researcher to disentangle the effects of age, period, and cohort to obtain a more accurate picture of family dynamics. Age effects are an artifact of maturation of individuals while period effects influence the life courses of individuals across birth cohorts. Cohort effects cause a differentiation in life patterns of consecutive birth cohorts. \({ }^{10}\)

    The fourth theme of the life course perspective looks at heterogeneity in structures and processes. It acknowledges diversity across the range of patterns-increasing diversity over time with age at the cohort and individual level, and diversity over time with social change.

    The fifth theme emphasizes the utility of multidisciplinary perspectives on development. Development is biological, psychological, and social and all of these perspectives must be considered when studying human development. \({ }^{11}\)

    The life course perspective is not merely a variation of developmental theories since the latter emphasizes a normative sequence of stages in one's life. The life course perspective acknowledges the variance in the possible sequence of events, as well as, the omission of some events, such as not having children. This perspective also acknowledges the effect of social and historical events on the individual's life course (e.g., war). Life course scholars also are aware of the intra-cohort differences that are influenced by these social and historical events. The life course perspective views marriage as the uniting of two separate life histories which have been influenced by social events of the past and will be influenced by social events of the future. \({ }^{12}\)

    Footnotes

    8. Elder \& O'Rand. (1995); Hagestad \& Neugarten (1985)
    9. Esterberg et al. (1994)
    10. Elder \& O'Rand. (1995)
    11. Bengtson \& Allen. (1993)
    12. Liker \& Elder. (1983).

    1.8: The Life Course Perspective is shared under a CC BY 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.