what is human agency as it relates to the life course theory

Agency is based on the assumption that humans are not passive recipients of a predetermined life course but make decisions that determine the shape their lives.

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What is human agency?

The life course represents a major change in how we think about and study human lives. In this sense, it is an emerging paradigm. Broadly speaking, the change is part of a 4 TIME, HUMAN AGENCY, AND SOCIAL CHANGE 5 general conceptual trend that has made time, context, and process more salient dimensions of theory and analysis. This development has

What is the life course theory?

Agency is based on the assumption that humans are not passive recipients of a predetermined life course but make decisions that determine the shape their lives.

What is social work theory of human agency?

 · This is similar to bounded agency—the capacity of an individual to influence their life course (Shanahan et al., 1997). The socially embedded notion of agency fits well with contemporary psychological theories that reject ideas of free will and describe human action as a dynamic interplay of a person influenced by their environment.

What is agency in sociology?

 · 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. Included in the cultural conceptions of the life course is some idea of how long people are expected to ...

What is human agency?

Human agency is the capacity for human beings to make choices and to impose those choices on the world. It is normally contrasted to natural forces, which are causes involving only unthinking deterministic processes.

What is human agency in psychology?

Agency refers to the human capability to influence one's functioning and the course of events by one's actions. There are four functions through which human agency is exercised. One such function is intentionality. People form intentions that include action plans and strategies for realizing them.

What is the life course theory in human development?

Life course theory (LCT) looks at how chronological age, relationships, common life transitions, life events, social change, and human agency shape people's lives from birth to death. It locates individual and family development in cultural and historical contexts.

What is agency in human development?

In the evolution of life, agency became most advanced in human beings as the species with the highest intellectual power to act with purpose on this planet. As an evolutionary shaped capacity, agency is a particularly 'human' capacity. It is indeed a defining characteristic of our species (Maryanski and Turner 1992).

What is human agency in philosophy?

Human agency entails the claim that humans do in fact make decisions and enact them on the world. How humans come to make decisions, by free choice or other processes, is another issue.

Why is human agency important?

They not only contribute to the meaning and valence of most external influences, but they also function as important proximal determi- nants of motivation and action. The capacity to exercise control over one's own thought processes, motivation, and action is a distinctively human characteristic.

What is life course theory example?

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.

What does life course theory suggest?

Life course theory suggests that a woman's own development and pre-existing behavioral patterns will shape how she and those within her social sphere contend with this out-of-sequence event.

What are the three life course theories?

Three types of time are central to a life course perspective: individual time, generational time, and historical time (Price, McKenry, and Murphy 2000).

What is an example of agency?

The definition of an agency is a group of people that performs some specific task, or that helps others in some way. A business that takes care of all the details for a person planning a trip is an example of a travel agency.

What does agency mean in education?

Student agency refers to learning through activities that are meaningful and relevant to learners, driven by their interests, and often self-initiated with appropriate guidance from teachers. To put it simply, student agency gives students voice and often, choice, in how they learn.

What do you understand with agency?

A consensual relationship created by contract or by law where one party, the principal, grants authority for another party, the agent, to act on behalf of and under the control of the principal to deal with a third party.

What is agency in sociology?

Agency refers to the thoughts and actions taken by people that express their individual power. The core challenge at the center of the field of sociology is understanding the relationship between structure and agency.

What is the relationship between structure and agency?

The debate about the relationship between structure and agency often comes up when sociologists study the lives of disenfranchised and oppressed populations. Many people, social scientists included, often slip into the trap of describing such populations as if they have no agency. Because we recognize the power of social structural elements like economic class stratification, systemic racism, and patriarchy, to determine life chances and outcomes, we might think that the poor, people of color, and women and girls are universally oppressed by social structure, and thus, have no agency. When we look at macro trends and longitudinal data, the big picture is read by many as suggesting as much.

How do sociologists understand the relationship between social structure and agency?

Sociologists understand the relationship between social structure and agency to be an ever-evolving dialectic. In the simplest sense, a dialectic refers to a relationship between two things, each of which has the ability to influence the other, such that a change in one requires a change in the other. To consider the relationship between structure and agency a dialectical one is to assert that while social structure shapes individuals, individuals (and groups) also shape social structure. After all, society is a social creation -- the creation and maintenance of social order require the cooperation of individuals connected through social relationships. So, while the lives of individuals are shaped by the existing social structure, they none the less have the ability -- the agency -- to make decisions and express them in behavior.

How does collective agency reaffirm social order?

Reaffirm Social Order or Remake It. Individual and collective agency may serve to reaffirm social order by reproducing norms and existing social relationships, or it may serve to challenge and remake social order by going against the status quo to create new norms and relationships.

What is the difference between agency and structure?

Structure refers to the complex and interconnected set of social forces, relationships, institutions, and elements of social structure that work together to shape the thought, behavior, experiences, choices, and overall life courses of people. In contrast, agency is the power people have to think for themselves and act in ways ...

Why do we think the poor have no agency?

Because we recognize the power of social structural elements like economic class stratification, systemic racism, and patriarchy, to determine life chances and outcomes , we might think that the poor, people of color, and women and girls are universally oppressed by social structure, and thus, have no agency.

What is life course theory?

Life course theory, a sociological framework, was used to analyze the phenomenon of becoming a mother, with longitudinal narrative data from 34 women who gave birth prematurely after a high-risk pregnancy, and whose infant became medically fragile. Women faced challenges of mistimed birth and mothering a technologically-dependent infant.

What are the five principles of life course theory?

Life course theory has five distinct principles: (a) time and place; (b) life-span development; (c) timing; (d) agency; and (e) linked lives. We used these principles to examine and explain high-risk pregnancy, its premature conclusion, and subsequent mothering of medically fragile preterm infants.

What is linked life?

Linked lives refers to an integration of social relationships extending beyond formal family ties, such as friends, neighbors, and work colleagues who provide a “distinct orienting context” (Marshall & Mueller, p.11). Social linkages shape how individuals interpret life events. People vary widely in the manner and degree in which they integrate social norms, relationships, and institutions. Integration may be discontinuous or disrupted under certain circumstances (Giele & Elder, 1998). The lives of mother and infant are uniquely linked, shaping and being shaped by each other in the continuing process of human development. However, becoming a mother of a medically fragile preterm infant is complicated by the unexpected and unknown. The discontinuous or disrupted nature of this mistimed biological event may affect the manner in which initial linkages are formed.

What is the second principle of life span development?

The second principle, life span development, is characterized by the view that humans develop in biologically, socially, and psychologically meaningful ways beyond childhood (Elder et al., 2003). New situations encountered in adulthood are shaped by earlier experiences and their attached meanings (Marshall & Mueller, 2003), suggesting that how women become a mother to a sick infant will be shaped by their previous relationships and mothering.

How are human lives shaped?

Human lives are shaped by questions of when and where in a sociohistorical sense, making the principle of time and place foundational to life course research. Culture defines a specific place in time (Gieryn, 2000). Use of obstetric technology expanded in the late 20thand early 21stcenturies, marking the beginning of a cultural shift in which prenatal testing, ultrasonography (US), and electronic fetal monitoring (EFM) have become the norm Similarly, neonatal technology has created a culture that includes a language of laboratory values, ventilator settings, and feeding volumes that replace conversations typical of parents, relatives, and friends after the birth of a fullterm infant. The technical and medicalized culture of both obstetric and neonatal care may influence women’s experiences of high-risk pregnancy and subsequent mothering.

What is social relations?

First, a social relations approach was used to examine the effects social structures such as marriage and family had on individuals. Subcategories of this approach include functionalism, exchange theory, and ecological systems theory.

Is life course theory applicable to mothering?

This directed content analysis varied somewhat from Hsieh and Shannon’s (2005)version in that the life course framework is not a theoretical rendering of mothering, but rather is a general framework applicable to a variety of human experiences occurring over time. Application of life course theory to the phenomenon of becoming a mother, about which a significant literature exists, allowed for an expansion of the understanding of mothering a medically fragile preterm infant. An important caveat in applying an existing framework to data for analysis is that the meaning of the text may be obscured by an overly strict interpretation based on the constructs of the framework (Flick, 2002). An important safeguard to prevent this is careful paraphrasing to explain the text, not to replace it.

What is human agency?

As elaborated below, human agency is defined as an individual's capacity to determine and make meaning from their environment through purposive consciousness and reflective and creative action ( Houston, 2010 ).

What is human agency in social work?

Human agency is core to social work. Practice theories and frameworks position human agency as socially mediated, but assume that people possess human agency to play determining roles in their life circumstances. Some of the discipline's seminal thinkers, however, argue that social work has adopted a disproportionate focus on the individual, ...

How does social work research show human agency?

Other social work research details human agency via actions and behaviours with an explicit framing of individuals as positive. Rather than just identifying and detailing human agency among marginalised groups, social work research show positive human action vis-à-vis assumptions or research literature where the marginalised groups are portrayed as passive or problematic. Common among this research is the presentation of resilience ( Bottrell, 2009; Murray, 2010 ).

How many articles are there on human agency?

Two key points can be taken from the analysis and unpacked further. First, the literature engaging human agency represents a noteworthy minority. Our systematic search and synthesis of 6,935 articles identified 711 which dealt with human agency. If we remove the 162 articles that only included social worker human agency, the 549 articles that included human agency of social work clients or non-social worker groups represent 7.9 per cent of all articles published during the five-year search period. It is impossible to determine what percentage of social work research ought to include the human agency of social work clients. On the other hand, given that clients, or individuals experiencing marginalisation, exclusion or social problems, are the centre of the profession's existence, it could reasonably be argued that contemporary social work research focuses insufficiently on questions of human agency.

What is social work literature?

The social work literature that considers human agency highlights the diversity and complexity of people's lives. Moreover, it demonstrates human agency as socially mediated and contingent. The research literature outlines an empirical basis to underpin social work's empowerment, change and emancipation objectives.

Does social work have human agency?

Given the core position that human agency assumes in social work frameworks, not to mention the centrality that client human agency assumes for social work practice, we are surprised that contemporary social work research does not engage with human agency more frequently. Indeed, after reading the critiques of contemporary social work as a profession imbued by neo-liberalism and regressing down a trajectory of focusing on individuals rather than social systems, the 7.9 per cent of articles including human agency was unexpected. If human agency is central to the profession, and we believe that it is, is social work reliant on other disciplines, such as psychology, anthropology, sociology and psychiatry, to provide an understanding of human agency? Can Brekke's (2012) critique that social work has failed to develop a coherent model of science to underpin the profession offer some answers to why social work mostly overlooks the agency of clients or marginalised groups more broadly?

What is the life theory?

Life theory, though, relies on the intersection of these social factors of influence with the historical factor of moving through time, paired against personal development as an individual and the life-changing events that caused that growth.

When was the life course concept first developed?

When the concept was first developed in the 1960s, the life course perspective hinged upon the rationalization of the human experience into structural, cultural and social contexts, pinpointing the societal cause for such cultural norms as marrying young or likelihood to commit a crime.

What is life course perspective?

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 it mean to observe events of one's life?

The events of one's life, when observed from the life course perspective, add to a sum total of the actual existence a person has experienced, as it is influenced by the person's cultural and historical place in the world.

What is included in the cultural conceptions of the life course?

Included in the cultural conceptions of the life course is some idea of how long people are expected to live and ideas about what constitutes “premature” or “untimely” death as well as the notion of living a full life — when and who to marry, and even how susceptible the culture is to infectious diseases. The events of one's life, ...

What does Leong discuss in the book "Immigrants and Refugees"?

Leong goes on to discuss this as it relates to immigrants' and refugees' happiness and the ability to integrate into a new society successfully. In overlooking these key dimensions of the life course, one might miss how the cultures clash and how they fit together to form a cohesive new narrative for the immigrant to live through.

What is the life course approach?

The life course approach, also known as the life course perspective or life course theory, refers to an approach developed in the 1960s for analyzing people's lives within structural, social, and cultural contexts. The origins of this approach can be traced back to pioneering studies of the 1920s such as Thomas' ...

What are the five principles of life course?

theorized the life course as based on five key principles: life-span development, human agency, historical time and geographic place, timing of decisions, and linked lives.

What is the meaning of life span?

Life span refers to duration of life and characteristics that are closely related to age but that vary little across time and place. In contrast, the life course perspective elaborates the importance of time, context, process, and meaning on human development and family life (Bengtson and Allen 1993).

What is the primary factor promoting standardization of the life course?

The primary factor promoting standardization of the life course was improvement in mortality rates brought about by the management of contagious and infectious diseases such as smallpox. A life course is defined as "a sequence of socially defined events and roles that the individual enacts over time".

What is the meaning of aging and developmental change?

Aging and developmental change, therefore, are continuous processes that are experienced throughout life. As such, the life course reflects the intersection of social and historical factors with personal biography and development within which the study of family life and social change can ensue (Elder 1985; Hareven 1996).

Why do cohorts have different life trajectories?

Cohorts tend to have different life trajectories because of the unique historical events each cohort encounters. Human agency in making choices. Human agency particularly personal agency, allows for extensive individual differences in life course trajectories as individuals plan and make choices between options.

What is interdependent life?

Human lives are interdependent, and the family is the primary arena for experiencing and interpreting wider historical, cultural, and social phenomena. The differing patterns of social networks in which persons are embedded produced very different differences in life course experiences.

What is standardizing the ages at which social role transitions occur?

Standardizing of the ages at which social role transitions occur, by developing policies and laws that regulate the timing of these transition. Ex- In the US. there are laws and regulations about the ages for compulsory education, working driving, drinking, being tried as an adult, marrying, holding public office , and receiving pensions and social insurance.

What is social age?

Social age. Refers to age-graded roles and behaviors expected by society-in other words, the socially constructed meaning of various ages. Age norm. is used to indicate the behaviors that are expected of people of specific age in a given society at a particular point in time.

What is the meaning of biological age?

Biological age. Indicates a person's level of biological development and physical health, as measured by functioning of various organ system.

What is a cohort?

Is a group of persons who were born during the same time period and who experience particular social changes within a given culture in the same sequence and at the same age. Event history. The sequence of significant events, experiences and transitions in a person's life from birth to death.

What is healthy development?

Healthy development in the face of risk factors. Thought to be the result of protective factors that shield the individual from the consequences of potential hazards.

Relationship Between Social Structure and Agency

Reaffirm Social Order Or Remake It

The Link to Disenfranchised Populations

Agency Is Alive and Well

• However, when we look sociologically at the everyday lives of people among disenfranchised and oppressed populations, we see that agency is alive and well, and that it takes many forms. For example, many perceive the life course of Black and Latino boys, especially those who are born into lower socioeconomic classes, as largely predetermined by a r...

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It Takes Many Forms