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A LIFE COURSE
PERSPECTIVE
1
C H A P T E R
- Key Ideas Elizabeth D. Hutchison
- Case Study 1.1: David Sanchez’s Search for Connections
- Case Study 1.2: Mahdi Mahdi’s Shared Journey
- Case Study 1.3: The Suarez Family After September 11,
- A Definition of the Life Course Perspective
- Theoretical Roots of the Life Course Perspective
- Basic Concepts of the Life Course Perspective
- Cohorts
- Transitions
- Trajectories
- Life Events
- Turning Points
- Major Themes of the Life Course Perspective
- Interplay of Human Lives and Historical Time
- Timing of Lives
- Dimensions of Age
- Standardization in the Timing of Lives
- Linked or Interdependent Lives
- Links Between Family Members
- Links With the Wider World
- Human Agency in Making Choices
- Diversity in Life Course Trajectories
- Developmental Risk and Protection
- Strengths and Limitations of the Life Course Perspective
- Integration With a Multidimensional, Multitheoretical Approach
- Implications for Social Work Practice
- Key Terms
- Active Learning
- Web Resources
4 THE CHANGING LIFE COURSE
C a s e S t u d y 1. 1
David Sanchez has a Hispanic name, but he explains to his social worker, as he is readied for discharge from the hospital, that he is a member of the Navajo tribe. He has spent most of his life in New Mexico but came to Los Angeles to visit his son Marco, age 29, and his grandchildren. While he was visiting them, he was brought to the emergency room and then hospitalized for what has turned out to be a diabetic coma. He had been aware of losing weight during the past year, and felt ill at times, but thought these symptoms were just signs of getting older, or perhaps, the vestiges of his alcoholism from the ages of 20 to 43. Now in his 50s, although he has been sober for seven years, he is not surprised when his body reminds him how he abused it. The social worker suggests to Mr. Sanchez that he will need to follow-up in the outpatient clinic, but he indicates that he needs to return to New Mexico. There he is eligible—because he is a Vietnam veteran— for health services at the local VA hospital outpatient clinic. He also receives a disability check for a partial disability from the war. He has not been to the VA since his rehabilitation from alcohol abuse, but he is com- mitted to seeing someone there as soon as he gets home. During recent visits with Marco and his family, David started to recognize how much his years of alco- hol abuse hurt his son. After Mrs. Sanchez divorced David, he could never be relied on to visit Marco or to provide child support. Now that Marco has his own family, David hopes that by teaching his grandchildren the ways of the Navajo, he will pay Marco back a little for neglecting him. During the frequent visits of this past year, Marco has asked David to teach him and his son how to speak Navajo. This gesture has broken down some of the bad feelings between them. David has talked about his own childhood during recent visits, and Marco now realizes how much his father suffered as a child. David was raised by his maternal grandmother after his father was killed in a car accident when David was 7. His mother had been very ill since his birth and was too overwhelmed by her husband’s death to take care of David. Just as David became attached to his grandmother, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) moved him to a boarding school. His hair was cut short with a tuft left at his forehead, which gave the teachers something to pull when he was being reprimanded. Like most Indian children, David suffered this harshness in silence. Now, he feels that it is important to break this silence. He has told his grandchildren about having his mouth washed out with soap for speaking Navajo. He jokes that he has been baptized in four different religions— Mormon, Catholic, Lutheran, and Episcopalian—because these were the religious groups running the board- ing schools he attended. He also remembers the harsh beatings for not studying, or for committing other small infractions, before the BIA changed its policies for boarding homes and the harsh beatings diminished. David often spent holidays at the school, because his grandmother had no money for transportation. He remembers feeling so alone. When David did visit his grandmother, he realized he was forgetting his Navajo and saw that she was aging quickly. He joined the Marines when he was 18, like many high school graduates of that era, and his grand- mother could not understand why he wanted to join the “white man’s war.” David now recognizes why his grandmother questioned his decision to go to war. During his alcohol treatments, especially during the use of the Native sweat lodge, he often relived the horrible memories of the bombings and killings in Vietnam;
David Sanchez’s Search for Connections
Chapter 1 A Life Course Perspective 5
these were the memories he spent his adult life trying to silence with his alcohol abuse. Like many veter- ans, he ended up on the streets, homeless, seeking only the numbness his alcoholism provided. But the memories were always there. Sometimes his memories of the children in the Vietnam villages reminded him of the children from the boarding schools who had been so scared; some of the Vietnamese children even looked like his Indian friends. It was through the Indian medicine retreats during David’s rehabilitation that he began to touch a softer reality. He began to believe in a higher order again. Although his father’s funeral had been painful, David experienced his grandmother’s funeral in a more spiritual way. It was as if she was there guiding him to enter his new role. David now realizes this was a turning point in his life. At his grandmother’s funeral, David’s great-uncle, a medicine man, asked him to come and live with him because he was getting too old to cut or carry wood. He also wanted to teach David age-old cures that would enable him to help others struggling with alcohol dependency, from Navajo as well as other tribes. Although David is still learning, his work with other alcoholics has been inspirational, and he finds he can make special connections to Vietnam veterans. Recently, David attended a conference where one of the First Nations speakers talked about the trans- generational trauma that families experienced because of the horrible beatings children encountered at the boarding schools. David is thankful that his son has broken the cycle of alcoholism and did not face the physical abuse to which he was subjected. But he is sad that his son was depressed for many years as a teen and young man. Now, both he and Marco are working to heal their relationship. They draw on the meaning and strength of their cultural and spiritual rituals. David’s new role as spiritual and cultural teacher in his family has provided him with respect he never anticipated. Finally he is able to use his grandmother’s wise teachings and his healing apprenticeship with his great-uncle to help his immediate family and his tribe. A social worker working a situation like this—helping Mr. Sanchez with his discharge plans—must be aware that discharge planning involves one life transition that is a part of a larger life trajectory.
—Maria E. Zuniga
C a s e S t u d y 1. 2
Social workers involved in refugee resettlement work are eager to learn all they can about the refugee expe- rience. Social workers in these scenarios are learning from their clients, but they will also find it helpful to talk with other resettlement workers who have made a successful adjustment after entering the United States as a refugee. In this particular case, the social worker has been particularly grateful for what she has learned from conversations with Mahdi Mahdi. Mahdi works as an immigration specialist at Catholic Social Services in Phoenix, providing the kind of services that he could have used when he came to Phoenix as a refugee in 1992.
Mahdi Mahdi’s Shared Journey
(Continued)
Chapter 1 A Life Course Perspective 7
Mahdi’s father died in 1982 from a heart attack; Mahdi thinks that worrying about his sons’ safety killed his father. Mahdi’s mother immigrated to Arizona in 1996 and lives about a mile from Mahdi and his family, next door to one of Mahdi’s brothers. (Three of Mahdi’s brothers are in Phoenix and one is in Canada. One sister is in Norway and the other is in Ukraine.) Mahdi’s mother loves being near the grandchildren, but she does not speak English and thus has a hard time meeting new people. In 1994, Mahdi and his wife had a third daughter. About 11 months ago, Mahdi’s mother- and father-in-law immigrated to the United States and came to live with Mahdi and his family. His wife now stays home to take care of them. Mahdi is sensitive to how hard it is for them to move to a new culture at their age. Mahdi and his family live in a neighborhood of Anglo Americans. His daughters’ friends are mostly Anglo Americans and Hispanic Americans. Although Mahdi and his family are Muslim, Mahdi says that he is not a very religious person. They do not go to mosque, and his wife does not wear a veil—although his mother does. Mahdi says that his faith is a personal matter, and he does not like to draw attention to it. It is much better, he says, to keep it personal. This part of the conversation brings Mahdi to mention the aftermath of September 11, 2001, and what it is like living in the United States as an Iraqi American since the terrorist attack. He says that, overall, people have been very good to him, although he has had some bad experiences on the street a few times, when people have stopped him and pointed their fingers angrily in his face. His neighbors and colleagues at work have offered their support. Mahdi suggests that the social worker might want to talk with his daughter, Rusel, to get another view of the family’s immigration experience. Rusel recently graduated from high school and is preparing to enroll at the University of Arizona to study civil engineering. When Rusel thinks of Baghdad, it is mostly the war that she remembers. She remembers the trip in the car that took her family away from Baghdad, and she remembers being confused about what was happen- ing. Her memories of the refugee camp in Rafha are not pleasant. The physical environment was strange and frightening to her: no trees, hot sand, flies everywhere, no water for a shower, no way to get cool, liv- ing in a tent with the sound of sandstorms. When the Mahdi family left the camp, Rusel did not know where they were going, but she was glad to be leaving. Her memories of coming to the United States are very positive. She was happy to be living in a house instead of a tent and to be surrounded by uncles, aunts, and cousins. At first, it was very hard to com- municate at school, but her teacher assigned another student, Nikki, to help Rusel adjust. Rusel is still grate- ful for the way that Nikki made her feel comfortable in her new surroundings. Rusel is also quick to add that she was in an English as a second language (ESL) program for three years, and she wants everybody to know how important ESL is for immigrant children. Certainly, she now speaks with remarkable English fluency. Rusel also is grateful that she had “Aunt Sue,” an American woman married to one of her uncles, who helped her whole family adjust. She knows that many immigrant families come to the United States without that kind of built-in assistance, and she is proud of the work her father does at the Catholic Social Services. Rusel is an exuberant young woman, full of excitement about her future. She turned somber, however, at the end of the conversation when she brought up the subject of September 11, 2001. She was very fright- ened then, and continues to be frightened, about how people in the United States view her and other Arabic people. She says, “I would not hurt a fly,” but she fears that people will make other assumptions about her. A social worker who will assist many refugee families has a lot to gain from learning stories like this— about Mahdi Mahdi’s preimmigration experience, migration journey, and resettlement adjustments. We must realize, however, that each immigration journey is unique.
—Story told June 2002
8 THE CHANGING LIFE COURSE
C a s e S t u d y 1. 3
Maria is a busy, active 7-year-old whose life was changed by the events of September 11, 2001. Her mother, Emma Suarez, worked at the World Trade Center and did not survive the attack. Emma was born in Puerto Rico and came to the mainland to live in the South Bronx when she was 5, along with her parents, a younger brother, two sisters, and an older brother. Emma’s father, Carlos, worked hard to make a living for his family, sometimes working as many as three jobs at once. After the children were all in school, Emma’s mother, Rosa, began to work as a domestic worker in the homes of a few wealthy families in Manhattan. Emma was a strong student from her first days in public school, and was often at the top of her class. Her younger brother, Juan, and the sister closest to her in age, Carmen, also were good students, but they were never the star pupils that Emma was. The elder brother, Jesus, and sister, Aida, struggled in school from the time they came to the South Bronx, and both dropped out before they finished high school. Jesus has returned to Puerto Rico to live on the farm with his grandparents. During her summer vacations from high school, Emma often cared for the children of some of the families for whom her mother worked. One employer was particularly impressed with Emma’s quickness and pleasant temperament and took a special interest in her. She encouraged Emma to apply to colleges dur- ing her senior year in high school. Emma was accepted at City College and was planning to begin as a full- time student after high school graduation. A month before Emma was to start school, however, her father had a stroke and was unable to return to work. Rosa and Aida rearranged their work schedules so that they could share the care of Carlos. Carmen had a husband and two young children of her own. Emma realized that she was now needed as an income earner. She took a position doing data entry in an office in the World Trade Center and took evening courses on a part-time basis. She was studying to be a teacher, because she loved learning and wanted to pass on that love to other students. And then Emma found herself pregnant. She knew that Alejandro Padilla, a young man in one of her classes at school, was the father. Alejandro said that he was not ready to marry, however. Emma returned to work a month after Maria was born, but she did not return to school. At first, Rosa and Aida were not happy that Emma was pregnant with no plans to marry, but once Maria was born, they fell hopelessly in love with her. They were happy to share the care of Maria, along with Carlos, while Emma worked. Emma cared for Maria and Carlos in the evenings so that Rosa and Aida could work. Maria was, indeed, an engaging baby, and she was thriving with the adoration of Rosa, Carlos, Aida, Juan, and Emma. Emma missed school, but she held on to her dreams to be a teacher someday. On the morning of September 11, 2001, Emma left early for work at her job on the 84th floor of the south tower of the World Trade Center, because she was nearing a deadline on a big project. Aida was bathing Carlos when Carmen called about a plane hitting the World Trade Center. Aida called Emma’s number, but did not get through to her. The next few days, even weeks, are a blur to the Suarez family. Juan, Carmen, and Aida took turns going to the Family Assistance Center, but there was no news about Emma. At one point, because Juan was wor- ried about Rosa, he brought her to the Red Cross Disaster Counseling Center where they met with a social worker who was specially trained for working in disaster situations. Rosa seemed to be near collapse.
The Suarez Family After September 11, 2001
You could think of the life course as a path. But note that it is not a straight path; it is a path with both continuities and twists and turns. Certainly, we see twists and turns in the life stories of David Sanchez, Mahdi Mahdi, and Emma Suarez. Think of your own life path. How straight has it been to date? If you want to understand a person’s life, you might begin with an event history, or the sequence of significant events, experiences, and transitions in a person’s life from birth to death. An event history for David Sanchez might include suffering his father’s death as a child, moving to live with his grandmother, being removed to a boarding school, fighting in the Vietnam War, getting married, becoming a father, divorcing, being treated for substance abuse, participating in Indian medicine retreats, attending his grandmother’s funeral, mov- ing to live with his great-uncle, and reconnecting with Marco. Mahdi Mahdi’s event history would most likely include the date he was drafted, the end of the Iran-Iraq War, escape from Baghdad, and resettlement in the United States. For little Maria Suarez, the events of September 11, 2001 will become a permanent part of her life story. You might also try to understand a person in terms of how that person’s life has been synchronized with family members’ lives across time. David Sanchez has begun to have a clearer understanding of his linkages to his great-uncle, father, son, and grandchildren. Mahdi Mahdi tells his story in terms of family connections, and Maria’s story is thoroughly entwined with that of her multigenerational family. Finally, you might view the life course in terms of how culture and social institutions shape the pattern of individual lives. David Sanchez’s life course was shaped by cultural and institutional preferences for placing Indian children in boarding schools during middle childhood and adolescence and for recommending the military for youth and young adults.
10 THE CHANGING LIFE COURSE
Photo 1.1 The life course perspective emphasizes ways in which humans are interdependent and gives special emphasis to the family as the primary arena for experiencing the world.
▲
Mahdi Mahdi’s life course was also heavily influenced by cultural expectations about soldiering. The economic system is shaping Maria Suarez’s life, through its influence on work opportunities for her family members.
y Theoretical Roots of the Life Course Perspective
The life course perspective is a theoretical model that has been emerging over the last 45 years, across several disciplines. Sociologists, anthropologists, social historians, demogra- phers, and psychologists—working independently and, more recently, collaboratively—have all helped to give it shape. Glen Elder Jr., a sociologist, was one of the early authors to write about a life course per- spective, and he continues to be one of the driving forces behind its development. In the early 1960s, he began to analyze data from three pioneering longitudinal studies of children that had been undertaken by the University of California, Berkeley. As he examined several decades of data, he was struck with the enormous impact of the Great Depression of the 1930s on indi- vidual and family pathways (Elder, 1974). He began to call for developmental theory and research that looked at the influence of historical forces on family, education, and work roles. At about the same time, social history emerged as a serious field. Social historians were particularly interested in retrieving the experiences of ordinary people, from their own van- tage point, rather than telling the historical story from the vantage point of the wealthy and powerful. Tamara Hareven (1978, 1982b, 1996, 2000) has played a key role in developing the subdiscipline of the history of the family. She is particularly interested in how families change and adapt under changing historical conditions and how individuals and families synchronize their lives to accommodate to changing social conditions. As will become clearer later in the chapter, the life course perspective also draws on tradi- tional theories of developmental psychology, which look at the events that typically occur in people’s lives during different stages. The life course perspective differs from these psychologi- cal theories in one very important way, however. Developmental psychology looks for univer- sal, predictable events and pathways, but the life course perspective calls attention to how historical time, social location, and culture affect the individual experience of each life stage.
y Basic Concepts of the Life Course Perspective
Scholars who write from a life course perspective and social workers who apply the life course perspective in their work rely on a handful of staple concepts: cohorts, transitions, trajectories, life events, and turning points (see Exhibit 1.2 for concise definitions). As you read about each concept, imagine how it applies to the lives of David Sanchez, Mahdi Mahdi, and Maria Suarez, as well as to your own life.
Cohorts
With their attention to the historical context of developmental pathways, life course schol- ars have found the concept of cohort to be very useful. In the life course perspective, a cohort is a group of persons who were born at the same historical time and who experience partic- ular social changes within a given culture in the same sequence and at the same age (Alwin & McCammon, 2003; Newman, 2006; Settersten, 2003a; Settersten & Mayer, 1997).
Chapter 1 A Life Course Perspective 11
Chapter 1 A Life Course Perspective 13
▲ Photo 1.2 Marriage is a life transition, which is a significant occurrence with long-lasting effects.
Exhibit 1.3 also shows the ratio of males to females in each population. A cohort’s sex ratio is the number of males per 100 females. Sex ratios affect a cohort’s marriage rates, childbearing practices, crime rates, and family stability. Although there are many chal- lenges to getting reliable sex ratio data, it is estimated that there are 101 males for every 100 females in the world (Clarke & Craven, 2005). In most parts of the world, 104– males are born for every 100 female births. However, in countries where there is a strong preference for male children, such as China, Taiwan, and South Korea, female abortion and female infanticide have led to sex ratios of 110 at birth (Clarke & Craven, 2005). As you can see in Exhibit 1.3, sex ratios decline across adulthood because males die at higher rates at every age. Again, there are exceptions to this trend in impoverished countries with strong male preference, where female children may be abandoned, neglected, given less food, or given up for foreign adoption (Newman, 2006). Sex ratios can be further unbal- anced by war (which leads to greater male mortality) or high rates of either male or female out-migration or in-migration. For some time, sex ratios at birth have been lower for blacks than for whites in the United States, meaning that fewer black boy babies are born per 100 girl babies than is the case in the white population (see Ulizzi & Zonta, 1994). This disparity holds up across the life course, with a sex ratio of 81 men to 100 women among black adults over age 18 com- pared to 94 men to 100 women among white adults. When this difference in sex ratios is jux- taposed with a growing disadvantage of black men in the labor market and their increasing rates of incarceration, it is not surprising that a greater percentage of black adults (39%) than white adults (21%) had never been married in 1999 (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2000).
Transitions
A life course perspective is stage-like because it proposes that each person experiences a number of transitions, or changes in roles and statuses that represent a distinct departure from prior roles and statuses (Elder & Kirkpatrick Johnson, 2003; George, 1993; Hagestad, 2003). Life is full of such transitions: starting school, entering puberty, leaving school, get- ting a first job, leaving home, retiring, and so on. Leaving his grandmother’s home for board- ing school and enrolling in the military were important transitions for David Sanchez. Rusel Mahdi is excited about the transition from high school to college.
14 THE CHANGING LIFE COURSE
Exhibit 1.3 Population Pyramids in Less Developed and Developed Countries
Age Group
Over 65
15–
Under 15
Less developed countries
Developed countries
Thousands of People in Age Group
25,00050,
0
50,000100,000150,000200,000250,000300,00050,00025,
0
300,000250,000200,000150,000100,00050, Thouands of People in Age Group
2005 2025
Female MaleFemale Male
SOURCE : Newman, 2006.
16 THE CHANGING LIFE COURSE
happening itself and not to the transitions that will occur because of the happening. A tran- sition is a more gradual change that occurs with a life event. One common method for evaluating the effect of such stressful events is Thomas Holmes & Richard Rahe’s Schedule of Recent Events, also called the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (Holmes, 1978; Holmes & Rahe, 1967). The Schedule of Recent Events, along with the rating of the stress associated with each event, appears in Exhibit 1.5. Holmes and Rahe constructed their schedule of events by asking respondents to rate the relative degree of adjustment required for different life events.
Exhibit 1.5 Life Change Events From the Holmes and Rahe Schedule of Recent Events
Life Event
Death of a spouse Divorce Marital separation from mate Detention in jail or other institutions Death of a close family member Major personal injury or illness Marriage Being fired at work Marital reconciliation with mate Retirement from work Major change in the health or behavior of a family member Pregnancy Sexual difficulties Gaining a new family member (e.g., through birth, adoption, elder moving in) Major business readjustment (e.g., merger, reorganization, bankruptcy) Major change in financial state (a lot worse off or a lot better off than usual) Death of a close friend Changing to a different line of work Major change in the number of arguments with spouse (more or less) Taking out a mortgage or loan for a major purchase Foreclosure on a mortgage or loan Major change in responsibilities at work (e.g., promotion, demotion, lateral transfer) Son or daughter leaving home Trouble with in-laws Outstanding personal achievement Wife beginning or ceasing work outside the home
Stress Rating
100 73 65 63 63 53 50 47 45 45 44 40 39 39 39 38 37 36 35 31 30 29 29 29 28 26
Inventories like the Schedule of Recent Events can remind us of some of the life events that affect human behavior and life course trajectories, but they also have limitations:
Life events inventories are not finely tuned. One suggestion is to classify life events along several dimensions: “major versus minor, anticipated versus unanticipated, controllable versus uncontrollable, typical versus atypical, desirable versus undesir- able, acute versus chronic.” (Settersten & Mayer, 1997, p. 246)
Existing inventories are biased toward undesirable, rather than desirable, events. Not all life events prompt harmful life changes (Pearlin & Skaff, 1996). Specific life events have different meanings to various individuals and to various collec- tivities. Those distinctive meanings have not been measured in most research on life events (George, 1996; Hareven, 2000). One example of a study that has taken different meanings into account found that women report more vivid memories of life events in relationships than men report (Ross & Holmberg, 1992).
Chapter 1 A Life Course Perspective 17
Life Event Beginning or ceasing formal schooling Major change in living conditions (e.g., building a new home, remodeling, deterioration of home or neighborhood) Revision of personal habits (e.g., dress, manners, associations) Trouble with the boss Major change in working hours or conditions Change in residence Change to a new school Major change in usual type and/or amount of recreation Major change in church activities (e.g., a lot more or a lot less than usual) Major change in social activities (e.g., clubs, dancing, movies, visiting) Taking out a mortgage or loan for a lesser purchase (e.g., for a car, TV, freezer) Major change in sleeping habits (a lot more or a lot less sleep, or change in part of day when asleep) Major change in number of family get-togethers (e.g., a lot more or a lot less than usual) Major change in eating habits (a lot less food intake or very different meal hours or surroundings Vacation Christmas Minor violations of the law (e.g., traffic tickets, jaywalking, disturbing the peace)
Stress Rating 19 19
18 17 16 15 15 13 12 11 26 25
24 23
20 20 20
SOURCE : Holmes, T. (1978). Life situations, emotions, and disease.Psychosomatic Medicine, 19, 747.
midlife—before midlife, turning points were likely to be related to role transitions; but after midlife, they were more likely to be related to personal growth (Leonard, 2006). A transition can become a turning point under five conditions (Hareven, 2000):
- When the transition occurs simultaneously with a crisis or is followed by a crisis
- When the transition involves family conflict over the needs and wants of individuals and the greater good of the family unit
- When the transition is “off-time,” meaning that it does not occur at the typical stage in life
- When the transition is followed by unforeseen negative consequences
- When the transition requires exceptional social adjustments
Loss of a parent is not always a turning point, but when such a loss occurs off-time, as it did with David Sanchez and Maria Suarez, it is often a turning point. Emma Suarez may not have thought of her decision to take a job in the World Trade Center as a turning point, because she could not foresee the events of September 11, 2001. Most life course pathways include multiple turning points, some that send life trajecto- ries off track and others that bring life trajectories back on track (Wheaton & Gotlib, 1997). David Sanchez’s Vietnam experience seems to have gotten him off track, and his grand- mother’s death seems to have gotten him back on track. In fact, we could say that the intent of many social work interventions is to get life course trajectories back on track. We some- times do this when we work with a family that has gotten off track and on a path to divorce. We also do this when we plan interventions to precipitate a turning point toward recovery for a client with an addiction. Or, we may plan an intervention to help a deteriorating com- munity reclaim its lost sense of community and spirit of pride. It is interesting to note that many social service organizations have taken “Turning Point” for their name.
y Major Themes of the Life Course Perspective
Over a decade ago, Glen Elder (1994) identified four dominant, and interrelated, themes in the life course approach: interplay of human lives and historical time, timing of lives, linked or interdependent lives, and human agency in making choices. The meaning of these themes is discussed below, along with the meaning of two other related themes that Elder (1998) and Michael Shanahan (2000) have recently identified as important: diversity in life course tra- jectories and developmental risk and protection. The meaning of these themes is summa- rized in Exhibit 1.6.
Interplay of Human Lives and Historical Time
As sociologists and social historians began to study individual and family life trajectories, they noted that persons born in different years face different historical worlds, with different options and constraints—especially in rapidly changing societies, such as the United States at the beginning of the twenty-first century. They suggested that historical time may produce
Chapter 1 A Life Course Perspective 19
cohort effects when distinctive formative experiences are shared at the same point in the life course and have a lasting impact on a birth cohort (Alwin & McCammon, 2003). The same historical events may affect different cohorts in different ways. For example, Elder’s (1974) research on children and the Great Depression found that the life course trajectories of the cohort that were young children at the time of the economic downturn were more seriously affected by family hardship than the cohort that were in middle childhood and late adoles- cence at the time. Analysis of large data sets by a number of researchers provides forceful evidence that changes in other social institutions impinge on family and individual life course trajectories (e.g., Cooksey et al., 1997; Elder, 1986; Rindfuss, Swicegood, & Rosenfeld, 1987; Shanahan et al., 1998). Tamara Hareven’s historical analysis of family life (2000) documents the lag between social change and the development of public policy to respond to the new circum- stances and the needs that arise with social change (see also Riley, 1996). One such lag today is the lag between trends in employment among mothers and public policy regarding child care during infancy and early childhood. Social work planners and administrators confront the results of such a lag in their work. Thus, they have some responsibility to keep the public informed about the impact of changing social conditions on individuals, families, commu- nities, and formal organizations.
Timing of Lives
“How old are you?” You have probably been asked that question many times, and no doubt you find yourself curious about the age of new acquaintances. Every society appears to use age as an important variable, and many social institutions in advanced industrial societies are organized, in part, around age—the age for starting school, the age of majority, retire- ment age, and so on (Settersten, 2003b; Settersten & Mayer, 1997). In the United States, our speech abounds with expressions related to age: “terrible 2s,”“sweet 16,”“20-something,”“life begins at 40,” “senior discounts,” and lately “60 is the new 40.” Age is also a prominent attribute in efforts by social scientists to bring order and pre- dictability to our understanding of human behavior. Life course scholars are interested in the
20 THE CHANGING LIFE COURSE
Exhibit 1.6 Major Themes of the Life Course Perspective
Interplay of human lives and historical time : Individual and family development must be understood in historical context. Timing of lives : Particular roles and behaviors are associated with particular age groups, based on biological age, psychological age, social age, and spiritual age. Linked or interdependent lives : Human lives are interdependent, and the family is the primary arena for experiencing and interpreting wider historical, cultural, and social phenomena. Human agency in making choices : The individual life course is constructed by the choices and actions individuals take within the opportunities and constraints of history and social circumstances. Diversity in life course trajectories : There is much diversity in life course pathways, due to cohort variations, social class, culture, gender, and individual agency. Developmental risk and protection : Experiences with one life transition have an impact on subsequent transitions and events, and may either protect the life course trajectory or put it at risk.
