Life‐Course Perspective

Abstract

The life‐course paradigm can be characterized as the study of changing individual lives within shifting societal structures. That is, human beings and societies change in tandem, mutually affecting one another through historical time. The life‐course conceptual framework encompasses all stages of human life from birth to death and is increasingly extending to multigenerational influences. It draws on Glen Elder's principles (time and place, linked lives, timing, life span development, agency, turning points) and utilizes both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Life‐course scholarship has traditionally focused on historically variable stages of life, the normative structuring of institutional trajectories of family, education, and work careers, and their implications for individual health and well‐being. Recent attention focuses on increasing social inequality and life‐course differentiation. With its recent institutionalization in two handbooks, an interdisciplinary and international society, and a journal, the life‐course perspective has come to permeate the social sciences.