explain what it means to take a “life-course perspective on the study of social change.

by Sally Kunde 8 min read

In this process there is a personal change from infancy through old age and death brought about as a result of the interaction between biographical events and social events. The series of major events, the stages of our lives from birth to death, may be called life course.

Updated on October 27, 2019. The life course perspective is a sociological way of defining the process of life through the context of a culturally defined sequence of age categories that people are normally expected to pass through as they progress from birth to death.Oct 27, 2019

Full Answer

What is the life course approach in sociology?

The life course approach studies the impact that sociological and cultural situations have on a person's development, from birth until death. The approach was developed in the 1960s as a way of analyzing socialization in each life course stage.

What is socialization in the life course approach?

Socialization. The life course approach examines and analyzes a person's life history to determine how certain events and situations influence that person's development. For example, sociologists use this approach to see how early events influence a person's future decisions and events. Using the life course approach,...

How does social class affect the stages of life course?

Social location in society—social class, race and ethnicity, and gender—affects how well people fare during the stages of the life course. Adams, E. J. (2010).

How do life course choices shape social and biological pathways?

These life course choices shape or alter social and biological pathways originating in childhood and moving into adulthood. Investments in human capital begin in early childhood, but intensify and become more self-directed during adolescence and the transition to adulthood.

What is meant by life course perspective?

The life course perspective or life course theory (LCT) is a multidisciplinary approach to understanding the mental, physical and social health of individuals, which incorporates both life span and life stage concepts that determine the health trajectory.

How does the life course perspective help us to understand social change?

The life course perspective emphasizes the ways in which humans are interdependent and gives special attention to the family as the primary arena for experiencing and interpreting the wider social world.

What is an example of the life course perspective?

Examples include: an individual who gets married at the age of 20 is more likely to have a relatively early transition of having a baby, raising a baby and sending a child away when a child is fully grown up in comparison to his/her age group.

Why is the life course perspective important?

2. The life course perspective recognizes the influence of historical changes on human behavior. 3. The life course perspective recognizes the importance of timing of lives not just in terms of chronological age, but also in terms of biological age, psychological age, social age, and spiritual age.

What is the life course and why is important in studies of the social determinants of health?

Life course approaches to health disparities leverage theories that explain how socially patterned physical, environmental, and socioeconomic exposures at different stages of human development shape health within and across generations and can therefore offer substantial insight into the etiology of health disparities.

What is meant by the life course perspective quizlet?

Life course perspective. An approach to human behavior that recognizes the influence `of age but also acknowledges the influences of historical time and culture. Which looks at how chronological age, relationships, common shape people's lives from birth to death. Cohort.

What is the sociological perspective on the life course?

The life course perspective is a sociological way of defining the process of life through the context of a culturally defined sequence of age categories that people are normally expected to pass through as they progress from birth to death.

What does life course mean in sociology?

The life course refers to the social phases we progress through, throughout our lives. Traditionally, these were seen as quite fixed, especially for women (who would be expected to be dependent on their parents until being married, at which point they would be dependent on their husbands and bear and rear children).

What is the life course theory sociology?

Overview. Life course theory (LCT) is an emerging interdisciplinary theory that seeks to understand the multiple factors that shape people's lives from birth to death, placing individual and family development in cultural and historical contexts.

What are life course studies?

Developed in the social sciences in the 1960s, life course research represents a major shift in the study of human life. It aims at analysing human development throughout the lifespan, considering together processes originally examined separately (Elder 1998; Featherman and Lerner 1985; Sapin et al. 2014).

What impact does the life course perspective have on the study of old age?

The growing focus on life course determinants of aging also has implications for studies of long-term changes in physical activity and their role in determining both gains and losses of health and functioning with aging.

How does the life course perspective enhance the study of aging?

The life course approach to ageing suggests that the rate of decline in function for a particular organ or system is not only dependent on contemporary influences but on the level of peak function attained earlier in life, which in turn depends partly on developmental processes and early environmental influences (Dodds ...

Summary

This resource for NHS and public health professionals focuses on taking a life course approach to the prevention of ill health and explores the evi...

A life course approach

A person’s physical and mental health and wellbeing are influenced throughout life by the wider determinants of health. These are a diverse range o...

Interventions across the life course

This section covers several recommended interventions across the life course selected by PHE for local government, the NHS and commissioners. It is...

Prioritising prevention of ill health

Now is the time to prioritise prevention of ill health. Action is needed by the NHS, by national government and by local government, all working in...

Resources

These resources can be used in presentations of your own or to share with colleagues: expanded interventions table supporting references Health mat...

When does secondary socialization take place?

Next, we have secondary socialization. Secondary socialization takes place in later childhood and adolescence, when a child is influenced by non-family members. Primary and secondary socialization play the largest roles in a person's socialization, because this is when most cognitive, emotional and physical development occurs. Older children start to take cues from their peers. The peers begin to play a larger socialization role than the immediate family. Media influences also become more prevalent.

When does primary socialization occur?

Primary socialization typically takes place before age five. It mostly takes place through the child's interaction with immediate family.

What are the stages of socialization?

However, socialization continues throughout the several stages of the life course, most commonly categorized as childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age . Within each of these categories, scholars further recognize subcategories, such as early adolescence and late adolescence, early adulthood and middle adulthood, and so forth.

What are the stages of life?

The four stages of the life course are childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age. Socialization continues throughout all these stages. What happens during childhood may have lifelong consequences. Traumatic experiences and other negative events during childhood may impair psychological well-being in adolescence and beyond ...

What is the most important stage of life?

Childhood. Despite increasing recognition of the entire life course, childhood (including infancy) certainly remains the most important stage of most people’s lives for socialization and for the cognitive, emotional, and physiological development that is so crucial during the early years of anyone’s life.

How old is adulthood?

Adulthood is usually defined as the 18–64 age span. Obviously, 18-year-olds are very different from 64-year-olds, which is why scholars often distinguish young adults from middle-age adults. In a way, many young adults, including most readers of this book, delay entrance into “full” adulthood by going to college after high school and, for some, then continuing to be a student in graduate or professional school. By the time the latter obtain their advanced degree, many are well into their 30s, and they finally enter the labor force full time perhaps a dozen years after people who graduate high school but do not go on to college. These latter individuals may well marry, have children, or both by the time they are 18 or 19, while those who go to college and especially those who get an advanced degree may wait until their late 20s or early to mid-30s to take these significant steps.

Is old age a fulfilling time of life?

Here we will just indicate that old age can be a fulfilling time of life for some people but one filled with anxiety and problems for other people, with social location (social class, race and ethnicity, and gender) once again often making a considerable difference.

Is adolescence a challenging time?

As many readers may remember, adolescence can be a very challenging time. Teenagers are no longer mere children, but they are not yet full adults . They want their independence, but parents and teachers keep telling them what to do. Peer pressure during adolescence can be enormous, and tobacco, alcohol, and other drug use become a serious problem for many teens.

What is life course approach?

A life course approach values the health and wellbeing of both current and future generations. It recognises that: there are a wide range of protective and risk factors that interplay in health and wellbeing over the life span. maintaining good functional ability is the main outcome of the life course approach to health.

Why is it important to fit the life course framework?

This means taking action: early and appropriately across the life course to protect and promote health during important transition periods. together as a society to create healthy environments and improve conditions of daily life.

Why should schools promote health and wellbeing?

At this stage of the life course, schools and colleges should be promoting the health and wellbeing of pupils and students to improve their educational outcomes and their health and wellbeing outcomes . PHE has developed a briefing on the link between pupil health and attainment and the evidence shows that pupils with better health and wellbeing are likely to achieve better academically and the culture, ethos and environment of a school influences the health and wellbeing of pupils and their readiness to learn.

How does socioeconomic status affect children?

effects of socio-economic status. the impact of high-quality early education and care. Improving children and young peoples’ mental wellbeing will have a positive effect on their cognitive development, learning, physical health, and their mental health, social and economic prospects in adulthood.

Why is it important to invest in the life course approach?

Therefore, it can provide high returns for health and contribute to social and economic development.

How are physical and mental health determinants influenced?

A person’s physical and mental health and wellbeing are influenced throughout life by the wider determinants of health. These are a diverse range of social, economic and environmental factors, alongside behavioural risk factors which often cluster in the population, reflecting real lives.

What is the life course?

Life course is a biological process. In this process there is a personal change from infancy through old age. and death brought about as a result of the interaction between biographical events and social events. The. series of major events, the stages of our lives from birth to death, may be called life course.

What is the process of socialization?

Through the process of socialization society tries to prepare its members for taking up. the roles and statuses associated with life course stages. Each life course stage by age is also affected by other factors like social class, gender, ethnicity and human. experience.

Why do children in the lower class start earning earlier than the children?

Due to the demands of the circumstances children in the lower class start earning earlier than the children. in other classes. Their childhood finishes too quickly and may be their childhood remains invisible. In childhood an individual is made to learn the skills needed in adult life. ADOLESCENCE.

What are some historical events that have become significant in the personal development of individuals?

Some. specific historical events like the creation of Pakistan, terrorist attacks of 9/11, economic. prosperity/depression, war, or some other natural calamity (an earthquake, epidemic, and flood) may. become significant in the personal development of individuals as well as their attitudes toward life and other.

What is the series of major events, the stages of our lives from birth to death, called?

series of major events, the stages of our lives from birth to death, may be called life course . Movement. through life course is marked by a succession of stages by age. Analysts have tried to depict the typical stages through which we pass, but they have not been able to agree. on standard division of the life course.

Do other societies experience stages of life differently?

other societies may experience a stage of life quite differently, or for that matter, they may not recognize it. at all. Second, in any society, the stages of life course present characteristic problems and transitions that. involve learning something new and, in many cases unlearning familiar routines.

What is sociological perspective?

What Is the Sociological Perspective? The sociological perspective is the study of human life, social interactions and how those interactions shape groups and entire societies.

What are the methods of sociology?

These include qualitative and quantitative research, which translates into conducting surveys and interviews. Methods of inquiry also include participant observation (which requires one to be an observer of a group without interfering with one's surroundings), content analysis, comparative analysis and historical analysis.

What are the factors that are considered in sociology?

Social environments and factors that are studied include gender, ethnicity and age. Additional factors include income and education. One of the goals of the sociological perspective is to show how deeply a person is affected by society and its social forces, even when it comes to what may seem like personal issues.

What is conflict theory?

Conflict Theory. Conflict theory is deri ved from the works of Karl Marx, and it studies how power and coercion affect social order. Marx believed that those with the greatest political, economic and social resources would hold the most power in society. These powerful people would maintain social order through domination.

Who introduced the symbolic perspective?

This theory was introduced by philosopher George Herbert Mead, but can be traced back to Max Weber.

What are the two explanations of social change?

1. Natural Environment. One explanation of social change is the natural environment.

What is social change?

Social change can be defined as the way in which human interactions, relationships, behavior patterns, and cultural norms change over time. These changes ultimately transform cultural and social institutions, concepts, and rules, which will inevitably impact society for the long-haul.

What are the mechanisms of change?

Within this, there are mechanisms of curvilinear and cyclic change, which ultimately states that changes in one cycle can create the conditions for changes in another. These can be broken up into two ideas: 1 Saturation – This is when the cycle is “saturated” with too many changes. For example, in business when the market is saturated with too many goods, which pushes rates lower. 2 Exhaustion – Eventually, too much saturation can lead to “exhaustion” or “fatigue”, which is when there’s a down-curve. However, over time, the market will need to be built up again, continuing that cycle.

What is one directional change?

Another pattern of social change is one-directional change, which says that change happens — as it sounds — in one direction. This usually implies a growth or increase of some kind, such as population growth or the growth of a company.

Why is social change unique?

Social change is pretty unique to humans. Due to our biology and ability to adapt, learn, and be flexible — especially as our environment changes around us —we are able to continuously inspire social change, even if we initially cause it. Hence, the changing social order. Image by Stefan Keller from Pixabay.

What is the next step in social change?

Theoretically, the next process in social change is understanding the changing social order, which is one of the broadest ways of looking at social change. It’s important to recognize that while social change is an ongoing phenomenon in society, there are two types of social change: the processes of change within the social structure (which helps to maintain that structure) and processes of change that can modify the structure in its entirety, which is also referred to as “societal change.”

How does social change start?

Social change usually starts at the bottom and works its way up, first to society on a mass scale, and eventually, lawmakers and people in power .