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 Sinica
Taiwan
March 7, 2003
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
Theoretical Challenges:
Late 1950s, Early 1960s
1. A way of thinking about the pathways,
organization, and dynamics of lives, human
development, and aging
2. Relating human lives to their changing times
– the challenge of taking the “Long View” of
people
3. Concepts of human development and aging
that apply across the life span
Context and Organism
• Life course – Context without organism
• Life Span – Organism without context
• Developmental Life Course – Organism in
dynamic relation to context
Three Pathways to Boys’
Late Problem Behavior and Delinquency Few
Moderate to Serious
Authority Avoidance Violence
Delinquency
• truancy • rape
• running away
• fraud • attack
• burglary
• staying out late • strong arm
• serious theft
Age of Onset
% Boys
Property Damage Physical Fighting
Defiance/
• vandalism • physical fighting
Disobedience • fire setting • gang fighting
Stubborn Minor Covert Minor Aggression
Behavior • bullying
Behavior • annoying others
• shoplifting
• frequent lying
Authority Conflict
Pathway Covert Pathway Overt Pathway
Early (before Age 12) 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.
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
Analytical Responses to
“Development out of Context”
1. Life Span – Typically linked to developmental
psychology
2. Life Course – Age-graded life course in time
and place
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 person’s developmental trajectory
are interconnected with the lives and
development of others.”
Elder, 1998, pp. 951-952
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
Age in People’s 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
The Life Course of Unwed Motherhood
Premarital sexual experience
among young, never-married females Non experience
Sex without contraceptives Contraceptive protection
Pregnancy Not Pregnant
Decision to have child out of wedlock Abortion or marriage
Decision not to marry after birth Marriage following birth
Unwed motherhood
Physical Health Trajectories
Constant Good Health Constant Poor Health
Decline and Recovery
Linear Decline Decline at End of Life
Cohorts, Cycles, and Generations
• Cohorts
• Cohorts and their heterogeneity
• Are generations the same thing as cohorts?
• Cohorts and generations
Birth Cohorts
50
A
40
B A
Age Structure
30
Young
Adulthood C B A
20
Adolescence D C B A
10
Childhood D C B A
0
1950 1940 1930 1920 1910 1900
Birth Year
What is a Birth Cohort?
• A social category – Bronfenbrenner’s
social address model
• Properties of a cohort
1. historical location and place, life chances
2. relative size of cohort
3. composition of cohort – SES, ethnicity
4. 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
A Comparative Analysis of Chinese
Cohorts in Historical Context
Calendar Year and Historical Epochs
Great Post- Cultural Revolution Post-
World War II Creation of Leap Great Leap Mao
Institutionalization
and Civil War Socialist State Forward Recovery I II Reforms of Reforms
1940 1950 1960 1970 1980
Mobilization Mobilization Mobilization Mobilization
Birth Institutionalization Institutionalization Institutionalization Institutionalization
Cohorts
a
1924-31 Youth
1932-39 Youth
1940-47 Youth
1948-55 Youth
1956-63 Youth
a) Youth refers to ages 13-20. The median age is 16.
Three Generations in a Survey: Cross Sectional
Grandparent
80
(born Generation overlap on age
1900)
Age Spread
Parent
50
(born Age Spread
1930)
Child
Life Span
(Retrospective
History) Age Spread
20 (Retrospective
History)
(Retrospective
History)
0
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
1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 Lifetime
100 In C.A.
80
(years)
G3 as P/C
60
40
Gn as C
20
0
Ever G1 - Oldest generation, no surviving parent
changing G2 - Next oldest generation with living parent and child
through G3 - Next oldest generation with living parent and child
time Gn - Member of youngest generation (based on Hagestad, 1982)
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.
The Emergence of Life Course
Theory and Studies
coffee break
The Emergence of Life Course Theory:
Research Traditions and Their Concepts
Life-span Concepts Life Cycle and Age and Temporality
of Development the Generations
Psychosocial stage, Life cycle of social roles, Anthropology of age,
adult stages of development generational succession age grades, expectations,
concepts of age status identity,
Multi-directionality of development Social roles, status, proscriptive and prescriptive
role-playing age norms
Cumulative advantage,
disadvantage Role transitions and sequences History of childhood and
the family
Selective optimization Socialization as role/
with compensation social learning Cohorts - Birth cohorts
and social change, structural lag
Life review, Intergenerational relations,
autobiographical memory exchange Age and life-course variations
Relative plasticity Social networks, capital Transitions and trajectories
Life Course Theory
1960s to present
Multi-Level Concept of Life Course
• Developmental transition and trajectory
• Individual life course – the social trajectories of
individuals
• Social pathways – institutionalized life course
Framing Statements and Points of Entry
Macro
Institutional, cultural, Framing statement on
community structures institutional influences
Social networks
Nested entry points
Social interchange
Micro Individual
The Evolution of Life Course Studies
Data
Theory Methods
Research
Research
Questions
Asking New Questions of Old Data
Steps in the Research Process
Problem Specification
Search for Appropriate Data
Preparation of Research Proposal
Analysis of Archival Data –
first step
Decision to Recast Data
Sequence of Analysis
Fitting Model to Data
T1 TN
Model Reformulation
Improved Fit
Data
Recast
Archive
Principles of Life Course Theory
Human Development
and Aging as
Life-Long Process
Human
Agency in Linked
Constrained Lives
Situations
Lives in
Time and Timing in
Place Lives
Principle of Life-Long Development
Human development and aging
are lifelong processes.
The SES Gradient in Self-Esteem and Health
Cumulative
SES Effects Self-Esteem Effects
70
Later
Life 60
50
40
Life Course
30
20 Life Course Issues
• Age Differential Outcomes
Youth 10 • Time-varying Mechanisms
• Cumulative Effects
0 SES Self-Esteem
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.
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.
A Cross-National Perspective on the Relation between
Education and Work in the Transition to Adulthood
Japan
Workers recruited Work
Education out of schools On-site
training
for workers
Germany
Vocational apprenticeship
Education or working class
Work
United Kingdom
Explicit Job
Education Training
Work
United States
Training
Education Uncertain
Work
Principle of Timing in Lives
The developmental impact of a succession
of life transitions or events is contingent on
when they occur in a person’s life.
Principle of Linked Lives
Lives are lived interdependently, and social
and historical influences are expressed
through this network of shared relationships.
glen_elder@unc.edu
http://www.unc.edu/~elder