The Life Course: A Sociological Introduction

ISBN-13: 9781137521965 / Angielski / Twarda / 2016 / 344 str.

Stephen J. Hunt

Opis

A far-reaching but accessible sociological account of the life course, and how it can be used to conceptualise key issues for social scientists, health and social workers. Now extensively updated in a new second edition, the text takes on the most recent and globally relevant debates and theoretical perspectives in the field.

Spis treści

Introduction 1. From Life Cycle to the Life Course: Theoretical Accounts 2. The Life Course in Late/Post-Modernity 3. Social Differentiation and Determinants of the Life Course 4. Reproduction, Pregnancy and Childbirth 5. Infancy and Parenting 6. Childhood: Issues and Perspectives 7. Youth and Emerging Adulthood 8. Adulthood: Work, Leisure, and Consumption 9. Relationships, Intimacy, and Family Life 10. Constructing Mid-Life 11. Ageing and Later Life 12. End of Life, Death and Dying.

O autorze

Stephen Hunt is Associate Professor at the University of the West of England, Bristol, UK, with specialised research interest in religion and contemporary culture. His publications include The Handbook of Global Contemporary Christianity (2015), A History of the Charismatic Movement in Britain and the United States of America (2009), Religion in Everyday Life (2005) and The Alpha Enterprise (2004).

Blurb

Dramatic social transformation in Western society over recent decades has had a profound impact on the way the life course is studied. While people continue to experience the implications of class, gender, ethnicity and, of course, age, they are more than ever able to take personal control of their own lives. The Life Course considers how, in a diverse and uncertain world, the previously predictable stages of life are no longer fixed but increasingly open to change.

Focusing on continuities and change, this book looks not only at the different 'phases of life', but also at the transformation of a number of closely related social institutions such as the family, education and the workplace. Recognising that the established cradle-to-grave view is now outdated, the trajectory from infancy and youth to later and end-of-life is followed not as a stable object of study, but as a starting point for critical analysis.

This second edition offers an essential overview of the sociology of the life course, incorporating both contemporary and conventional perspectives. It calls upon current theorising around the life course as well as on up-to-date empirical research data. This thought-provoking text is relevant to researchers and students of life course studies and sociology, as well as to those in nursing, social work and related caring professions.