Changing Patterns of Family Life - Life Course Analysis

What is the life course?

• Life course refers to the events that take place throughout an individual’s life and how they assign meaning to those

• Marked by stages of an individual’s life such as childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, middle and old age

• Decided by decisions made such as education, relationships, marriage and divorce, childbearing and retirement

How has the life course changed?

• In the modern era, the life course followed a stable set of norms and values for most individuals

• People would be brought up in a nuclear family, enter life-long marriages, have children and retire at 65

• Changes to society in the 1950s and 1960s led to changes in the way that people made decisions about their life course- increased the diversity of personal lives

What are the key changes in society?

• Rise of feminism

• Reduced stigma over lifestyles

• Increased choice and individualism

• Secularisation

• Legislation

• Changing attitudes to relationships

What did Green say about the de-standardisation of the life course?

There are no fixed path through life course in contemporary society as was the case in previous generations

What is the de-standardisation of the life course?

• Childbearing does not necessarily follow marriage- 48% of children born in 2018 were to unmarried parents

• Education is life-long, and employment and career progression changes over time

• Children increasingly dependent on parents into their early twenties and thirties

• Sexuality is more fluid- people can change sexuality in later life

What did Chester say about the life course in 1985?

The life course analysis suggests that people will move through a stage of being in a relationship with children and this will be the norm at some stage

What did Allan and Crow say about the life course in 2001?

The changes to life course mean the contemporary family is not like the traditional family

What did Beck-Gernsheim say about the life course in 2002?

Families retain some traditional elements, such as structure, but differ in identity and organisation

What did the Rapoports say about the life course in 1982?

Life cycle diversity and generational diversity

What is the evidence of the life course changes?

• Increased divorce compared to the 1960s

• Reduction in marriages and number of children born to unmarried parents

• Increased average age of marriages, increased age of first child

• Changes in retirement, beanpole families, clipped-wing generation and boomerang kids