Revitalising the Life Course

Abstract

This volume began by outlining some of the ways in which the experience of ageing and the negotiation of identity across the life course have been theorised. As noted, the predominance of the Durkheimian legacy within both the sociology of the recent western life course and the anthropology of non-western societies has meant that accounts of the external, nominal, categorical and socio-structural aspects of identity have traditionally been privileged over those which have stressed a more individual, virtual and actor-oriented perspective. Before suggesting a new kind of account, let us recap the argument we have outlined so far.