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

Social

The term social refers to a characteristic of living organisms...

, and cultural contexts. Origins of this approach can be traced to pioneering studies as Thomas' and Znaniecki's "The Polish Peasant in Europe and America" from the 1920s or Mannheim's essay on the "Problem of generations". The life course approach examines an individual's life history and sees for example how early events influence future decisions and events such as marriage and divorce, engagement in crime, or disease incidence. A life course is defined as "a sequence of socially defined events and roles that the individual enacts over time". In particular, the approach focuses on the connection between individuals and the historical and socioeconomic context in which these individuals lived.
The method encompasses observations including history

History

History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

, sociology

Sociology

Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...

, demography

Demography

Demography is the statistical study of human population. It can be a very general science that can be applied to any kind of dynamic human population, that is, one that changes over time or space...

, developmental psychology

Developmental psychology

Developmental psychology, also known as human development, is the scientific study of systematic psychological changes, emotional changes, and perception changes that occur in human beings over the course of their life span. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to...

, biology

Biology

Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...

, public health

Public health

Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" . It is concerned with threats to health based on population health...

 and economics

Economics

Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...

. So far, empirical research from a life course perspective has not resulted in the development of a formal theory

Theory

The English word theory was derived from a technical term in Ancient Greek philosophy. The word theoria, , meant "a looking at, viewing, beholding", and referring to contemplation or speculation, as opposed to action...

.

Life course scholars

• Robert J. Sampson
  Robert J. Sampson
  Robert J. Sampson is the Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences at Harvard University and Chair of the Department of Sociology. Before joining Harvard he taught in the Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago for twelve years and before that the University of Illinois at...
  
  
• Glen Elder (sociologist)
  Glen Elder (sociologist)
  Glen Holl Elder, Jr., is the Howard W. Odum Research Professor of Sociology , a research professor of Psychology and a current professor at the Carolina Population Center all at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research interests are in social psychology, sociology,...
  
  
• Kenneth Ferraro (sociologist)
• Mark Hayward (demographer)

Further reading

• Elder, G.H. (1974). Children of the great depression. Social change in life experience. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
• Elder, G. H. (1998). "The Life course as developmental theory." Child Development, 69: 1–12.
• Elder, G.H. and Giele, J.Z. (eds.) (2009). The Craft of Life Course Research. New York: Guilford Press.
• Heinz, W.R., Huinink, J. and Weymann, A. (eds.) (2009). The life course reader. Individuals and societies across time. Frankfurt a. M.: Campus.
• Hutchison. E. (2003). Dimensions of human behavior; person and environment. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
• Mayer, K.U. (2009). "New Directions in Life Course Research", Annual Review of Sociology 35: 413–433.
• Gavrilova N.S., Gavrilov L.A. Genetic Influences in Later Life. In: D. Carr (Editor), Encyclopedia of the Life Course and Human Development, Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2009, vol.3, pp.165-170

External links

• Society for Longitudinal and Lifecourse Studies
• Institute for Life Course and Aging, Toronto
• Collaborative Research Center 186 "Status Passages and Risks in the Life Course"
• Archive for Life course research at Bremen University, Germany (in German)
• Life Course Theory
• Building the Foundation for a Side-by-Side Explanatory Model:A General Theory of Crime, the Age-Graded Life Course Theory, and Attachment Theory
• http://www.corwin.com/upm-data/16295_Chapter_1.pdf