Life Course Staging as Cultural and Subjective Practice: Review, Critique, and Theoretical Possibilities

Janssen, Diederik F.

doi:10.1177/1354067x09344885

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…Comparably, synoptic efforts by Coan, Kiefer and Owen referenced above provide a comprehensive picture of EuroAmerican (and Eastern) maturity, yet remain integral to abstract concerns for the philosophical tenability of projected conditions for maturity, rather than for mundane transgressions that these projections invite and in a sense produce by circumscribing them as such. The same tendency is seen in studies about 'age identity', psychometric studies of self-life-staging (see Janssen (2009a), for a review and critique) and numerous contemporary critiques of immaturity (Janssen, 2009b). What is evidenced is a reactionary gaze on what is assumed to be a suspect withdrawal from some ethical sufficiency or conformity, symptomatic of 'youth bias', failed pedagogy, alienating economies or cultural stasis.…”

Section: Development After Alienationmentioning

confidence: 74%

The semiotic predicament of developmental psychology

Janssen¹

2010

Subjectivity

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This article critically assesses various proposals for a cultural semiotics of maturity and developmental stages. Semiotic theories consider developmental subjectivity as a function of a person's progressive immersion into sign systems, and are key to a denaturalization and contextualization of the life-staged subject. A semiotic understanding of maturity inspired by the post-Marxist work of Jean Baudrillard suggests that neo-Marxist indictments of consumer society as alienating individuals either by 'hurrying' or infantilizing them, is complicit with a more profound and ambient naturalization of life stages. However, a look at Japan's 'cute culture' (kawaî karucha) is taken to suggest that both developmental psychology and its critique, may be, importantly sidetracked by late capitalist mass production and circulation of maturational markers. Various implications of this case study for developmental psychology are discussed.

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Section: Development After Alienationmentioning

confidence: 74%

The semiotic predicament of developmental psychology

Janssen¹

2010

Subjectivity

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“…This inductive method of defining life stages would allow researchers to avoid suggestive questions like 'How long would you say early adolescence lasts?' (Janssen, 2009, p. 544), or 'Do you feel you have reached adulthood?' (p. 549).…”

Section: The Crux Of Ambiguous Vocabularymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, clear definitions also allow for finding parallel concepts in other fields of research and can thus foster interdisciplinary exchange. The effort would nevertheless have to be ongoing, because definitions are unavoidably 'provisional': they change with context and time (Janssen, 2009), as, for example, the mentioned re-evaluation of diffusion within identity research.…”

Section: What To Do?mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Commentary: About the Danger of Relying on Common Vocabulary

Watzlawik

2009

Culture & Psychology

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Janssen (2009) raises the criticism that life stages and related concepts are not clearly defined and that even within the same study or data pool different conceptualizations can be found. A lack of clear definitions and the resulting difficulties are, nevertheless, not exclusive to life stage research. The general need for unambiguous definitions of the terminology used, even if these limit broader concepts to a certain scope of meaning, is stressed in order to avoid misunderstandings and to foster— especially interdisciplinary— communication.

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“…In her annual review on youth and cultural practice, Buckholtz (2002) In the years since, adolescence as life stage and the life-course as a model have became subject to anthropological and sociological scrutiny Bynner 2001 andJanssen 2009;Johnson-Hanks 2002;Punch 2002). The earlier assumptions of youth transitioning and arriving at the set destination of adulthood were called into question.…”

Section: Life-course and Transitionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dignity in Decision-Making: Modernity and Social Navigation among Rural French Polynesian Youth

Jarvis¹

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This research examines critical questions about the experiences of youth through the lenses of modernity, subjectivity, and the lifecourse. Growing up in a (post)colonial context of shifting definitions of adulthood, youth from the rural island of Rurutu, French Polynesia must navigate various decisions and transformations with little information to base their future aspirations on. This dissertation identifies dignity as the main motivating factor in youth decision-making, one that is constantly redefined as youth navigate shifting social fields. Dignity, as used here, is a target youth strive for in order to contest feelings of social precarity stemming from unaccommodating education systems and an unstable economic and political situation. Conceptually, the research is framed by Johnson-Hanks’ theory of vital conjunctures, which she defines as ‘the zone of possibility that emerges around specific periods of potential transformation in a life or lives’ (2002, 866). This research expands the examination of vital conjunctures through the use of what I will refer to as “vital conjuncture narratives.” These narratives allow young people to reflect on the turning points they find most important, instead of relying on those established by the anthropologist, thus revealing the frequency and flow of decisions as well as the experiences of transformation. This way of examining youth allows for narrative agency and problematizes the historically linear lifecourse concept of transitioning into adulthood. These narratives show that youth seek dignity through connections to tradition, land, and family, upholding their ties to Rurutu as a foundation upon which to build their lives.

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Life Course Staging as Cultural and Subjective Practice: Review, Critique, and Theoretical Possibilities

Cited by 5 publications

References 68 publications

The semiotic predicament of developmental psychology

The semiotic predicament of developmental psychology

Commentary: About the Danger of Relying on Common Vocabulary

Dignity in Decision-Making: Modernity and Social Navigation among Rural French Polynesian Youth

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