Abstract
Over the last four decades the life course perspective has become an important and fruitful approach in the social sciences. Some of its proponents even claim that the life course approach today is the pre-eminent theoretical orientation and new core research paradigm in social science (Elder et al. 2003; Heinz et al. 2009). Although not everyone will agree with this far reaching claim, few will dispute that the life course approach constitutes a promising conceptual starting point for overcoming the crucial micro-macro problem in social research by analysing the dynamic interrelation of structure and agency. The life course perspective has been successfully applied to empirical research in a wide range of sociological as well as demographic studies. In line with the development of the life course approach also migration and integration issues have become core topics of debate in society and are subject of a growing number of studies over the past years. Despite this similar development in time, exchanges between the life course approach and migration research are still rather limited. Reviewing the booming migration literature in Europe it is striking that the large majority of studies do not or only partially use the sociological life course approach. Even though a study already carried out in the early twentieth century became a classical study in migration research as well as in the life course literature. In the “The Polish Peasant in Europe and America” (1918–1920), the authors Thomas and Znaniecki basically apply a life course approach to the study of Polish migrants coming to the US. They aimed to explain social changes and changes in, for example family relations, by focusing on the interaction between individual migrants and the host society. This line of research has however not been fully taken further in research since then. Even though migration has become one of the major factors in population change in Europe today (Coleman 2008; Taran 2009) and the resulting significant amount of research in social sciences, the main focus of recent studies has been on the position of migrants in education and the labour market as well as on issues of identity and belonging (Heath et al. 2008; Van Tubergen 2005; Verkuyten 2001). Studies mainly aim to explain the specific position of migrants after migration. In demography, studies have looked at specific transitions like timing of the first child or intermarriage with native partners (Coleman 1994; González-Ferrer 2006; Kalmijn and van Tubergen 2006; Milewski 2008). In the study of international migration moves different, often economic explanations of migration decisions are taken. Only recently more emphasis has been put on the linked lives and the role of family and other networks for facilitating the migration move (Castles and Miller 2009). That the life course approach is only limitedly used in migration studies is at least puzzling: Understanding migrants’ behaviour and explaining the cumulative effects resulting from their actions which, in turn, are embedded in societal structures and framed by institutions, requires just the kind of dynamic research approach the sociological life course perspective suggests. This is even more so the case for studies on integration issues, as integration processes actually directly refer to life course processes, be it inter-generational (cohort differences) or intra-generational (individual careers). At the same time most studies in this domain focus on the position of migrants in society by studying the process of settlement in the host society only.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Cf. also the new journal “Longitudinal and Life Course Studies” which started last year (Bynner et al. 2009).
- 2.
Population studies usually relate historical situations and factors to life course patterns by studying cohorts. This is not always fully capturing the micro-macro linkage because intra-cohort variations are understudied, institutional mechanisms are rarely specified, and biographical agency and its dynamics are hard to grasp. Already 25 ago Neugarten pointed out that this approach “does not analyze lives but presents the statistical histories of cohorts” (1985: 297). Cohort studies, thus, tend to “speculate about historical forces … At most we end with a plausible story that does not … weigh specific forces or explicate causal processes” (Elder and O’Rand 1995: 455). At the same time sociological studies, too, show a hiatus in this domain and do not fully capture the historical situation and its dynamics.
- 3.
For an account of the emergence of life course research see Elder (1998).
- 4.
As developmental psychologists sometimes tend to assume, regarding social contexts not as constitutive of a person or biography but taking them into account only as (important) mediating variables. Dannefer (1984) criticized this as the “ontogenetic fallacy” in lifespan psychology; cf. also the subsequent discussion between Baltes and Nesselroade (1984) and Dannefer (1984a). Note that, while ever since there has been and still is much talk about integrating the sociological life course and psychological lifespan perspective, so far there is not much progress in this respect (among the few positive exceptions are Elder and Caspi 1988; Sampson and Laub 1997; Diewald 2006) but, realistically, rather reason for taking a sceptical view of integrating the two perspectives (Mayer 2003; Diewald and Mayer 2009; Settersten 2009).
- 5.
Cf. – though less from an institutional but rather from a phenomenological life-world perspective – Alfred Schütz’ classic study on “The Stranger: An Essay in Social Psychology” (1944).
- 6.
This holds true for the majority of people in modern industrialized societies – yet, it “must be acknowledged that the description of life course patterns and other central preoccupations of the life course literature are largely irrelevant to the empirical reality of the existence of the majority of the present human population of the earth” (Dannefer 2002: 259).
- 7.
The tripartite life-course model has been criticized as not doing justice to female life courses (Moen 1985; Krüger 2003). In addition authors have commented that the tripartite life-course model, due to being age-differentiated, has become dysfunctional because the societies of today require and their individuals wish for an age-integrated life-course model (Riley et al. 1994). These discussions, however, may be neglected in the context of this introduction.
- 8.
- 9.
For an overview on the use of “agency” in life course research see Marshall (2000).
- 10.
According to Meyer and Jepperson (2000) the individual as an agentic actor is a cultural construction and consequence of modernity’s rationalization process.
- 11.
Originally, these guiding principles were induced as generalizations from the many empirical findings of Elder’s work. Elder and his followers sometimes speak of “paradigmatic principles” and sometimes of “linking mechanisms,” using both terms synonymously – and sometimes they claim a sharp distinction according to which the former term refers to a “broadly applicable idea” and the latter one to a “process that links transitions to behaviour” (Shanahan and Macmillan 2008: 55; Elder 1991; Elder and Shanahan 1998; Elder et al. 2003).
- 12.
While the transition concept refers to an individual process of state change the related term “status passage” refers to transitions as well as their societal configurations: “On the micro level status passages are constructed by biographical actors (…). On the macro level status passages refer to institutional resources and guidelines for life course transitions” (Heinz 1996: 58f).
- 13.
- 14.
- 15.
Generally, “trajectory” is a ballistic term denoting the flight path of a missile which has a definite direction (graphically represented not as a straight line but a curve). Yet, while ballistics conceives of trajectories deterministically there is no deterministic notion whatsoever in the trajectory concept of the sociological life course approach.
- 16.
Cf. also Mayer who views the life course as “a self-referential process” showing “endogenous causation” (2003: 467), thus supposing conceptual priority of trajectories over transitions.
- 17.
This critique may also hold true for generation and cohort theories which assume that particular historical situations and societal circumstances cause a lasting imprint on individuals, thus producing distinguishable generations in the first place (cf. Mannheim 1952; Ryder 1965) – an overstressing of the supposition of a formative period ignores individuals’ capacity for learning and change.
- 18.
Also, this constitutive association with institutions makes the multiple trajectories of an individual’s life course interdependent: “Interdependence emerges from the socially differentiated life course of individuals, its multiple trajectories and their synchronization” (Elder 1985: 32).
- 19.
“Trajectories are trajectories precisely by virtue of what we might call their stable randomness, their causal character, in particular their comprehensibility under the image of cause implicit in regression thinking. Their inertia arises in stable, but localized, causal parameters” (Abbott 1997: 93).
- 20.
A famous study making use of both concepts is Sampson and Laub (1993).
- 21.
If a turning point could be “identified merely with reference to the past and the immediate present, algorithms locating turning points could beat the stock market. It is precisely the ‘hindsight’ character of turning points – their definition in terms of future as well as past and present – that forbids this” (Abbott 1997: 89).
- 22.
Migration, for example, represents a turning point if – and disregard of the migrant’s own view – it makes a hitherto employed worker a successful entrepreneur or turns a pupil’s good previous educational performance into a school drop-out career.
- 23.
Yet, cf. George (2009) for a conception of trajectories relating to intra-individual change.
- 24.
It is indispensable for a transition to become a turning point “that the trajectories it separates either differ in direction … or in nature (one is ‘trajectory-like,’ the other is random)” (Abbott 1997: 94) – whereas it does not matter whether a turning point is biographically motivated; it may be simply random.
- 25.
“Ironically, trajectories are the periods within which standard statistical modelling might be expected to produce good predictions of outcome, because in a sense that is the definition of a trajectory. But the turning points, precisely because they are the more causally central shifts of regime, will not be discovered by methods aiming at uncovering regimes” (Abbott 1997: 93).
- 26.
For an empirical application of the formal sequence typology developed by Sackmann and Wingens see Brzinsky-Fay (2007).
- 27.
- 28.
The notion of sequencing entails the same problem of societal relevance as the timing notion: while there are still normatively standardized successions of events and social status “disorderly” sequences are increasingly becoming common in modern (post-)industrial societies (Hogan 1978; Marini 1984; Rindfuss et al. 1987). Thus, average or standard patterns of sequencing are fading away, especially when taking into account longer life course periods, in present-day society.
- 29.
Usually, “dense” phases of accumulated state changes are stronger impacted upon by (macro-level) structural conditions than are life phases with a broadly scattered occurrence of events and transitions. Yet, the degree of density of status changes may also be due to an individual’s (micro-level) coping with current circumstances.
References
Abbott, A. (1997). On the concept of turning point. Comparative Social Research, 16, 85–105.
Abbott, A. (2001). Time matters: On theory and method. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Abbott, A., & Tsay, A. (2000). Sequence analysis and optimal matching methods in sociology: Review and prospect. Sociological Methods and Research, 29(1), 3–33.
Aisenbrey, S., & Fasang, A. (2009). New life for old ideas: The “Second Wave” of sequence analysis. Bringing the “Course” back into the life course. CIQLE working paper, 2009–05. New Haven: CIQLE.
Anderson, M. (1985). The emergence of the modern life cycle in Britain. Social History, 10(1), 69–87.
Back, K. (Ed.). (1980). Life course: Integrative theories and exemplary populations. Colorado: Westview Press.
Baltes, P., & Nesselroade, J. (1984). Paradigm lost and paradigm regained: Critique of Dannefer’s portrayal of life-Span developmental psychology. American Sociological Review, 49(6), 841–847.
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: Freeman.
Barnes, B. (1999). Understanding agency. Social theory and responsible action. London: Sage.
Beck, U. (1992). Risk society: Towards a new modernity. London: Sage.
Bengtsson, T., Lundh, C., & Scott, K. (2005). From boom to bust. The economic integration of immigrants in post war Sweden, Working paper. Lund: Lund University Online: http://www.Ekh.Lu.Se/Ekhksc/Papers/Boombust.Doc.
Berard, T. (2005). Rethinking practices and structure. Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 35(1), 196–229.
Bernhardt, E., Goldscheider, C., Goldscheider, F., & Bjerén, G. (2007). Immigration, gender, and family transitions to adulthood in Sweden. Lanham: University Press of America.
Billari, F. (2005). Life course analysis: Two (complementary) cultures? In R. Levy et al. (Eds.), Towards an interdisciplinary perspective on the life course (pp. 261–281). Amsterdam: Elsevier JAI.
Blossfeld, H. (2009). Comparative life course research: A cross-national and longitudinal perspective. In G. Elder & J. Giele (Eds.), The craft of life course research (pp. 280–306). New York: Guilford Press.
Blossfeld, H., & Rohwer, G. (1995). Techniques of event history modelling: New approaches to causal analysis. Mahwah: Erlbaum.
Bonifazi, C., et al. (Eds.). (2008). International migration in Europe; new trends and new methods of analysis. Amsterdam: IMISCOE Research, Amsterdam University Press.
Brückner, H., & Mayer, K. (2005). De-standardization of the life course: What it might mean? And if it means anything, whether it actually took place? In R. Macmillan (Ed.), The structure of the life course: Standardized? Individualized? Differentiated? (pp. 27–53). Amsterdam: Elsevier JAI.
Brzinsky-Fay, C. (2007). Lost in transition? Labour market entry sequences of school leavers in Europe. European Sociological Review, 23(4), 409–422.
Buchmann, M. (1989). The script of life in modern society: Entry into adulthood in a changing world. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Bynner, J., et al. (2009). Editorial: Longitudinal and life course studies. Longitudinal and Life Course Studies, 1(1), 3–10.
Castles, S., & Miller, M. J. (2009). The age of migration (4th Rev. ed.). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Chiswick, B., Lee, Y., & Miller, P. (2005). A longitudinal analysis of immigrant occupational mobility: A test of the immigrant assimilation hypothesis. International Migration Review, 39(2), 332–353.
Clausen, J. (1991). Adolescent competence and the shaping of the life course. American Journal of Sociology, 96(4), 805–842.
Clausen, J. (1995). Gender, contexts, and turning points in adults’ lives. In P. Moen, G. Elder, & K. Lüscher (Eds.), Examining lives in context (pp. 365–389). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Coleman, D. A. (1994). Trends in fertility and intermarriage among immigrant populations in Western Europe as measures of integration. Journal of Biosocial Science, 26, 107–123.
Coleman, D. A. (2008). The demographic effects of international migration in Europe. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 24, 452–476.
Constant, A., & Massey, D. S. (2003). Self-selection, earnings, and out-Migration: A longitudinal study of immigrants to Germany. Journal of Population Economics, 16(4), 631–653.
Crockett, L. (2002). Agency in the life course: Concepts and processes. In L. Crockett (Ed.), Agency, motivation, and the life course (pp. 1–29). Lincoln: University of Nebraska.
Dannefer, D. (1984). Adult development and social theory: A paradigmatic reappraisal. American Sociological Review, 49(1), 100–116.
Dannefer, D. (1984a). The role of the social in life-span developmental psychology, past and future: Rejoinder to Baltes and Nesselroade. American Sociological Review, 49(6), 847–850.
Dannefer, D. (2002). Whose life course is it, anyway? Diversity and “Linked Lives” in global perspective. In R. Settersten (Ed.), Invitation to the life course. Toward new understandings of later life (pp. 259–268). Amityville: Baywood.
De Valk, H. A. G. (2006). Pathways into adulthood. A comparative study on family life transitions among migrant and Dutch Youth. Universiteit Utrecht/ICS dissertation series: Thela Thesis.
Diewald, M. (2006). Spirals of success and failure? In M. Diewald, A. Goedicke, & K. Mayer (Eds.), After the fall of the wall. East German life courses in transition (pp. 214–236). Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Diewald, M., & Mayer, K. (2009). The sociology of the life course and Life span psychology: Integrated paradigm or complementing pathways. Advances in Life Course Research, 14(1–2), 5–14.
Diprete, T. (2002). Life course risks, mobility regimes, and mobility consequences: A comparison of Sweden, Germany, and the United States. American Journal of Sociology, 108(2), 267–309.
Diprete, T., & Eirich, G. (2006). Cumulative advantage as a mechanism for inequality. A review of theoretical and empirical developments. Annual Review of Sociology, 32, 271–297.
Elder, G. (1974). Children of the great depression: Social change in life experience. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Elder, G. (1985). Perspectives on the life course. In G. Elder (Ed.), Life course dynamics: Transitions and trajectories, 1968–1980 (pp. 23–49). Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Elder, G. (1991). Lives and social change. In W. Heinz (Ed.), Theoretical advances in life course research (pp. 58–86). Weinheim: Deutscher Studien Verlag.
Elder, G. (1998). The life course and human development. In R. Lerner (Ed.), Theoretical models of human development (pp. 665–715). New York: Wiley.
Elder, G., & Caspi, A. (1988). Human development and social change: An emerging perspective on the life course. In N. Bolger et al. (Eds.), Persons in context: Developmental processes (pp. 77–113). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Elder, G., & O’Rand, A. (1995). Adult lives in a changing society. In K. Cook, G. Fine, & J. House (Eds.), Sociological perspectives on social psychology (pp. 452–475). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Elder, G., & Shanahan, M. (1998). The life course and human development. In R. Lerner (Ed.), Theories of human development: Contemporary perspectives (pp. 939–991). New York: Wiley.
Elder, G., Johnson, M., & Crosnoe, R. (2003). The emergence and development of life course theory. In J. Mortimer & M. Shanahan (Eds.), Handbook of the life course (pp. 3–19). New York: Kluwer/Plenum Publishers.
Emirbayer, M., & Mische, A. (1998). What is agency? American Journal of Sociology, 103(4), 962–1023.
Ersanilli, E., & Koopmans, R. (2009). Ethnic retention and host culture adoption among Turkish immigrants in Germany, France and the Netherlands: A controlled comparison. Berlin: WZB discussion paper.
Euwals, R. et al. (2007). Immigration, integration and the labour market: Turkish immigrants in Germany and the Netherlands. IZA discussion paper No. 2677.
Fry, C. (2002). The life course as a cultural construct. In R. Settersten (Ed.), Invitation to the life course (pp. 269–294). Amityville: Baywood.
Gangl, M. (2004). Welfare states and the scar effects of unemployment. A comparative analysis of the United States and West Germany. American Journal of Sociology, 109(6), 1319–1364.
Gecas, V. (2003). Self-agency and the life course. In J. Mortimer & M. Shanahan (Eds.), Handbook of the life course (pp. 369–388). New York: Kluwer/Plenum Publishers.
George, L. (2003). Life course research: Achievements and potential. In J. Mortimer & M. Shanahan (Eds.), Handbook of the life course (pp. 671–680). New York: Kluwer/Plenum Publishers.
George, L. (2009). Conceptualizing and measuring trajectories. In G. Elder & J. Giele (Eds.), The craft of life course research (pp. 163–186). New York: Guilford Press.
Giddens, A. (1984). The constitution of society. Outline of the theory of structuration. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Giele, J., & Elder, G. (Eds.). (1998). Methods of life course research: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
González-Ferrer, A. (2006). Who do immigrants marry? Partner choice among single immigrants in Germany. European Sociological Review, 22(2), 171–185.
Gundel, S., & Peters, H. (2008). What determines the duration of stay of immigrants in Germany? Evidence from a longitudinal duration analysis. DIW SOEPpapers on multidisciplinary panel data research No. 79.
Hagestad, G. (1991). Trends and dilemmas in life course research: An international perspective. In W. Heinz (Ed.), Theoretical advances in life course research (pp. 23–57). Weinheim: Deutscher Studien Verlag.
Hagestad, G., & Neugarten, B. (1985). Age and the life course. In E. Shanas & R. Binstock (Eds.), Handbook of aging and the social sciences (2nd ed., pp. 36–61). New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company.
Hamel, C., Huschek, D., Milewski, N., & de Valk, H.A.G. (2010). Union formation of the Turkish second generation. Presentation at the TIES final conference, Paris, May 2010. Forthcoming in the TIES study report. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press IMISCOE Series.
Hazelrigg, L. (1997). On the importance of age. In M. Hardy (Ed.), Studying aging and social change. Conceptual and methodological issues (pp. 93–128). Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Heath, A., Rothon, C., & Kilpi, E. (2008). The second generation in Western Europe: Education, unemployment, and occupational attainment. Annual Review of Sociology, 34, 211–235.
Heinz, W. (1996). Status passages as micro-macro linkages in life course research. In A. Weymann & W. Heinz (Eds.), Society and biography: Interrelationships between social structure, institutions and the life course (pp. 51–65). Weinheim: Deutscher Studien Verlag.
Heinz, W., & Krüger, H. (2001). Life course: Innovations and challenges for social research. Current Sociology, 49(2), 29–45.
Heinz, W., et al. (2009). General Introduction. In W. Heinz, J. Huinink, & A. Weymann (Eds.), The life course reader. Individuals and societies across time (pp. 15–30). Frankfurt: Campus.
Held, T. (1986). Institutionalization and de-institutionalization of the life course. Human Development, 29(3), 157–162.
Hitlin, S., & Elder, G. (2007). Time, self, and the curiously abstract concept of agency. Sociological Theory, 25(2), 170–191.
Hogan, D. (1978). The variable order of events in the life course. American Sociological Review, 43(4), 573–586.
Hogan, D., & Goldscheider, F. (2003). Success and challenge in demographic studies of the life course. In J. Mortimer & M. Shanahan (Eds.), Handbook of the life course (pp. 681–691). New York: Kluwer/Plenum Publishers.
Huschek, D., Liefbroer, A. C., & de Valk, H. A. G. (2010). Timing of first union among second-generation Turks in Europe: The role of parents, peers and institutional context. Demographic Research, 22(16), 473–504.
Kagitcibasi, C. (2005). Autonomy and relatedness in cultural context. Implications for self and family. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 36, 403–422.
Kalmijn, M., & van Tubergen, F. (2006). Ethnic intermarriage in the Netherlands: Confirmations and refutations of accepted insights. European Journal of Population, 22, 371–397.
King, A. (2000). The accidental derogation of the lay actor. A critique of Gidden’s concept of structure. Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 30(3), 362–383.
Kogan, I., & Kalter, F. (2006). The effects of relative group size on occupational outcomes: Turks and Ex-Yugoslavs in Austria. European Sociological Review, 22, 35–48.
Kohli, M. (1986). The world we forgot: A historical review of the life course. In V. Marshall (Ed.), Later life: The social psychology of aging (pp. 271–303). Beverly Hills: Sage.
Kohli, M. (2007). The institutionalization of the life course: Looking back to look ahead. Research in Human Development, 4(3–4), 253–271.
Krüger, H. (2003). The life-course regime: Ambiguities between interrelatedness and individualization. In W. Heinz & V. Marshall (Eds.), Social dynamics of the life course (pp. 33–56). New York: Aldine De Gruyter.
Kulu, H., & Milewski, N. (Eds.). (2007). Interdependencies in the life course: Family, fertility, and migration (demographic research, special collection 6). Rostock: MPIDR.
Leisering, L. (2003). Government and the life course. In J. Mortimer & M. Shanahan (Eds.), Handbook of the life course (pp. 205–225). New York: Kluwer/Plenum Publishers.
Lesthaeghe, R. (Ed.). (2002). Meaning and choice: Value orientations and life course decisions. The Hague/Brussels: NIDI/CBGS.
Macindoe, H., & Abbott, A. (2004). Sequence analysis and optimal matching techniques for social science data. In M. Hardy & A. Bryman (Eds.), Handbook of data analysis (pp. 387–406). London: Sage.
Macmillan, R. (Ed.). (2005). The structure of the life course: Standardized? Individualized? Differentiated? Amsterdam: Elsevier JAI.
Mannheim, K. [1928/29] (1952). The Problem of Generations. In K. Mannheim (Ed.), Essays in the sociology of knowledge (pp. 276–320). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Marini, M. (1984). Age and sequencing norms in the transition to adulthood. Social Forces, 63(1), 229–244.
Marshall, V. (2000). Agency, structure, and the life course in the era of reflexive modernization. (www.Aging.Unc.Edu/Infocenter/Resources/2000/Marshallv.Pdf).
Marshall, V., & Mueller, M. (2003). Theoretical roots of the life-course perspective. In W. Heinz & V. Marshall (Eds.), Social dynamics of the life course (pp. 3–33). New York: Aldine De Gruyter.
Martinovic, B., Van Tubergen, F., & Maas, I. (2009). Dynamics of interethnic contact: A panel study of immigrants in the Netherlands. European Sociological Review, 25(3), 303–318.
Mayer, K. (2000). Promises fulfilled? A review of 20 years of life course research. European Journal of Sociology, 41(2), 259–282.
Mayer, K. (2001). The paradox of global social change and national path dependencies. Life course patterns in advanced societies. In A. Woodward & M. Kohli (Eds.), Inclusions and exclusions in European societies (pp. 89–110). London: Routledge.
Mayer, K. (2003). The sociology of the life course and lifespan psychology: Diverging or converging pathways? In U. Staudinger & U. Lindenberger (Eds.), Understanding human development: Dialogues with lifespan psychology (pp. 463–481). Boston: Kluwer.
Mayer, K. (2004). Whose lives? How history, societies, and institutions define and shape life courses. Research in Human Development, 1(3), 161–187.
Mayer, K. (2005). Life courses and life chances in a comparative perspective. In S. Svallfors (Ed.), Analysing inequality: Life chances and social mobility in comparative perspective (pp. 17–55). Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Mayer, K. (2006). All the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty together again. Social Forces, 84(4), 2363–2365.
Mayer, K., & Müller, W. (1986). The state and the structure of the life course. In A. Sørensen, F. Weinert, & L. Sherrod (Eds.), Human development and the life course (pp. 217–245). Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Mayer, K., & Schöpflin, U. (1989). The state and the life course. Annual Review of Sociology, 15, 187–209.
Mayer, K., & Tuma, N. (Eds.). (1990). Event history analysis in life course research. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
Mcnicoll, G. (1992). The agenda of population studies: A commentary and complaint. Population and Development Review, 18(3), 399–420.
Meyer, J. (1986). The self and the life course: Institutionalization and its effects. In A. Sørensen, F. Weinert, & L. Sherrod (Eds.), Human development and the life course (pp. 217–245). Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Meyer, J., & Jepperson, R. (2000). The “Actors” of modern society: The cultural construction of social agency. Sociological Theory, 18(1), 100–120.
Milewski, N. (2008). Fertility of immigrants and their descendants in West Germany – An event history approach. Doctoral thesis, University of Rostock, Rostock.
Moen, P. (1985). Continuities and discontinuities in women’s labor force activity. In G. Elder (Ed.), Life course dynamics: Transitions and trajectories, 1968–1980 (pp. 113–155). Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Myles, J. (1990). States, labour markets, and life cycles. In R. Friedland & S. Robertson (Eds.), Beyond the market place: Rethinking economy and society (pp. 271–298). New York: Aldine De Gruyter.
Myles, J. (1992). Is there a post-fordist life course? In W. Heinz (Ed.), Institutions and gatekeeping in the life course (pp. 171–185). Weinheim: Deutscher Studien Verlag.
Myrskylä, M. (2009). Essays on mortality and the life course. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania.
Neugarten, B. (1985). Interpretive social science and research on aging. In A. Rossi (Ed.), Gender and the life course (pp. 291–300). Chicago: Aldine Publishing.
O’Rand, A. (2009). Cumulative processes in the life course. In G. Elder & J. Giele (Eds.), The craft of life course research (pp. 121–140). New York: Guilford Press.
Raymer, J., & Willekens, F. (Eds.). (2008). International migration in Europe: Data, models and estimates. Chichester: Wiley.
Riley, M., Kahn, R., & Foner, A. (Eds.). (1994). Age and structural lag. Society’s failure to provide meaningful opportunities in work, family, and leisure. New York: Wiley.
Rindfuss, R., Swicegood, C., & Rosenfeld, R. (1987). Disorder in the life course: How common and does it matter? American Sociological Review, 52(6), 785–801.
Ritschard, G., & Oris, M. (2005). Life course data in demography and social sciences. In R. Levy et al. (Eds.), Towards an interdisciplinary perspective on the life course (pp. 283–314). Amsterdam: Elsevier JAI.
Ryder, N. (1965). The cohort as a concept in the study of social change. American Sociological Review, 30(6), 843–861.
Sackmann, R. (2001). Age and labour market chances in international comparison. European Sociological Review, 17(4), 373–387.
Sackmann, R., & Wingens, M. (2003). From transitions to trajectories: Sequence types. In W. Heinz & V. Marshall (Eds.), Social dynamics of the life course (pp. 93–115). New York: Aldine De Gruyter.
Sampson, R., & Laub, J. (1993). Crime in the making. Pathways and turning points through life. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Sampson, R., & Laub, J. (1997). A life-course theory of cumulative disadvantage and the stability of delinquency. In T. Thornberry (Ed.), Developmental theories of crime and delinquency (pp. 133–161). New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.
Schütz, A. (1944). The stranger: An essay in social psychology. American Journal of Sociology, 49(6), 499–507.
Scott, K. (1999). The immigrant experience: Changing employment and income patterns in Sweden, 1970–1993. Doctoral thesis, Lund University School of Economics and Management, LUSEM. Department of Economic History, Lund.
Seifert, W. (1997). Occupational and economic mobility and social integration of Mediterranean migrants in Germany. European Journal of Population, 13(1), 1–16.
Settersten, R. (1999). Lives in time and place. The problems and promises of developmental science. Amityville: Baywood.
Settersten, R. (2003). Age structuring and the rhythm of the life course. In J. Mortimer & M. Shanahan (Eds.), Handbook of the life course (pp. 81–98). New York: Kluwer/Plenum Publishers.
Settersten, R. (2007). Passages to adulthood: Linking demographic change and human development. European Journal of Population, 23(3–4), 251–272.
Settersten, R. (2009). It takes two to tango: The (un)easy dance between life-course sociology and life-span psychology: Integrated paradigm or complementing pathways. Advances in Life Course Research, 14(1–2), 74–81.
Shanahan, M., & Macmillan, R. (2008). Biography and the sociological imagination. Contexts and contingencies. New York: Norton.
Shavit, Y., & Müller, W. (Eds.). (1998). From school to work: A comparative study of educational qualifications and occupational destinations. Oxford: Clarendon.
Taran, P. (2009). Economic migration, social cohesion and development: Towards an integrated approach. Strasbourg: Council of Europe.
Thomas, W., & Znaniecki, F. (1918–1920). The polish peasant in Europe and America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Van Tubergen, F. (2005) The integration of immigrants in cross-national perspective. Origin, destination and, community effects. ICS Dissertation Series No. 112, Utrecht University, Utrecht.
Van Tubergen, F. (2006). Occupational status of immigrants in cross-national perspective: A multilevel analysis of 17 western societies. In G. Parsons & T. Smeeding (Eds.), Immigration and the transformation of Europe (pp. 147–171). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
van Wissen, L., & Dykstra, P. (Eds.). (1999). Population issues: An interdisciplinary approach. New York: Kluwer/Plenum Publishers.
Verkuyten, M. (2001). Global self-esteem, ethnic self-esteem, and family integrity: Turkish and Dutch early adolescents in the Netherlands. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 25(4), 357–366.
Wethington, E., Kessler, R., & Pixley, J. (2004). Turning points in adulthood. In O. Brim, C. Ryff, & R. Kessler (Eds.), How healthy are we? A national study of well-being at midlife (pp. 586–613). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Willekens, F. (1990). Demographic forecasting: State of the art and research needs. In G. Frinking & C. Hazeu (Eds.), Emerging issues in demographic research (pp. 9–75). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Willekens, F. (1999). The life course: Models and analysis. In L. van Wissen & P. Dykstra (Eds.), Population issues: An interdisciplinary approach (pp. 23–51). New York: Kluwer/Plenum Publishers.
Yamaguchi, K. (1991). Event history analysis. Newbury Park: Sage.
Zorlu, A. (2002). Absorption of immigrants in European labour markets. The Netherlands, United Kingdom and Norway. Dissertation, University of Amsterdam, Tinbergen Institute Research Series, 279.
Zorlu, A., & Mulder, C. H. (2010). Ethnic differences in leaving home: Timing and pathways. Demography, 48, 49–72.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Wingens, M., de Valk, H., Windzio, M., Aybek, C. (2011). The Sociological Life Course Approach and Research on Migration and Integration. In: Wingens, M., Windzio, M., de Valk, H., Aybek, C. (eds) A Life-Course Perspective on Migration and Integration. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1545-5_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1545-5_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-1544-8
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-1545-5
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawSocial Sciences (R0)