This volume represents a new name and a new focus for its predecessor, Current Perspectives on Aging and the Life Cycle (volumes 1-4). We begin our new series, now titled Advances in Life Course Research, with volume 5. Its statement of purpose is the publication of theoretical analyses, reviews, policy analyses and positions, and theory-based empirical papers on issues involving all aspects of the human life course. It adopts a broad conception of the life course, and invites and welcomes contributions from all disciplines and fields of study interested in understanding,...

This volume is subtitled New Frontiers in Socialization. With a combination of invited and author initiated papers - all anonymously peer reviewed - this volume seeks to produce a cohesive source of information on socialization and the life course. It advances theory and research related to socialization during specific periods of adult life or across adulthood. We focus on the adult years because most scholarship on socialization pertains to the first two decades of life. contexts - families, neighbourhoods and communities, peer and friendship groups, educational settings, work...

Hardly any broad analyses exist to link the vast contemporary change in life patterns both to changes in women's lives (rising employment, declining fertility, and changing use of time) and to changes in men's lives, the gender contract, and the economy, as well as to national social policies. This book shows not only similar trends across countries but also the likely direction of future change, particularly as related to economic growth, gender equity, and the well-being of families and children. The first chapter, an overview by the editors, provides a comprehensive conceptual framework...