Doing Transitions in the Life Course: Processes and Practices (Life Course Research and Social Policies, 16)

✍ Scribed by Barbara Stauber (editor), Andreas Walther (editor), Richard A. Settersten Jr. (editor)

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 2022
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 254
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This open access book provides a unique research perspective on life course transitions. Here, transitions are understood as social processes and practices. Leveraging the recent “practice turn” in the social sciences, the contributors analyze how life course transitions are “done.” This book introduces the concept of “doing transitions” and its implications for theories and methods. It presents fresh empirical research on “doing transitions” in different life phases (e.g., childhood, young adulthood, later life) and life domains (e.g., education, work, family, health, migration). It also emphasizes themes related to institutions and organizations, time and normativity, materialities (such as bodies, spaces, and artifacts), and the reproduction of social inequalities in education and welfare. In coupling this new perspective with empirical illustrations, this book is an indispensable resource for scholars from demography, sociology, psychology, social work and other scientific fields, as well as for students, counselors and practitioners, and policymakers.

✦ Table of Contents

Preface
Contents
About the Contributors
Part I: Introduction
Chapter 1: “Doing Transitions”: A New Research Perspective
“Doing Transitions”: The Concept
Cross-Cutting Themes in the Constitution of Transitions and Structure of the Book
References
Chapter 2: The Trajectories of a Life
What Is a Life?
The Trajectories of a Life
Space-Time Paths
Sequences of Action
Pasts and Futures
Trajectories, Bundles of Practices, and Material Arrangements
Life Trajectories and Chains of Action
Conclusion
References
Part II: Institutions and Organisations
Chapter 3: Welfare States as Transition Regimes: Reconstruction from International Comparisons of Young People’s Transitions to Work
International (and) Comparative Research on Transitions into Training and Work
From Welfare Regimes to Transition Regimes
Transition Regimes as Constellations of Doing Transitions
Institutional Regulation, Organization and Ritualization of Transitions
Normality of Transitions Through Discursive Practices
Biography and Coping with Life as Subjectivation
Conclusion
References
Chapter 4: Young People’s Use and Construction of Institutional Support in Transitions from School to Work
Connections Between Welfare State Regulation and Subjective-Biographical Coping: Reflexive Transition Research
Making and Shaping Transitions by Adolescents and Young Adults in the Context of Welfare State Regulation
Discussion
Conclusion: Power and Powerlessness of Institutional Support in Transitions
References
Chapter 5: Young Adults’ Exclusive Educational Careers in the Transition to Higher Education or Employment: Key Findings of a Qualitative Longitudinal Study
Exclusive Profile Schools and Students’ Later Careers: State of the Art
Theoretical Frames of Reference and Design of the Longitudinal Study
Educational Biographical Pathways in the Interplay Between Family, School and Peers
Young Adults with International Educational Careers
Young Adults with Dual Careers
Profile Schools as Springboards for an Exclusive Educational or Profile Career?
References
Chapter 6: Organizations as Collective Subjects in the Formation of Transitions Over the Life Course
Organizational Transitions
Addressing Theory Considerations for the Analysis of Expectations from the Institutional Environment
The Organizational Development of the Collective Subject as a Commitment to Integration Work
Transitions Within Organizations
Negotiating the Differentiation of Areas of Life: The Interplay of Collective Subjects and Individuals
Dynamics of Inclusion and Exclusion
Conclusion
References
Chapter 7: Aging Transitions at Work: The Embodied Experience of Becoming Older
Older Workerhood as a Transitional Space
Older Workerhood as an Embodied Transition
Researching Transitions into Older Workerhood
Older Workerhood at HFUK
Conclusion
References
Part III: Times and Normativities of Transitions
Chapter 8: Relative Time and Life Course Research
Relative Time in Life Course Research and Beyond
Past, Present, and Future: The Temporal Orientation of Human Agency
The Temporal Horizons of Agency
Temporal Agency in Life Narratives
Perceptions of Time Passage and Time Left in Life
Time Perspectives Inventory
Temporal Discounting
The Duration of the Present and Its Division from the Future
Defining Relative Time for Life Course Research: Multidirectional, Telescopic and Elastic
Multidirectional Time
Telescopic Time
Elastic Time
Relative Time at the Intersection of Biographical and Social Times
Discussion and Implications for Life Course Research
References
Chapter 9: Biographical Articulation in Transition
Biographical Articulation
Empirical Approach: Different Forms and Aspects of Biographical Articulation
The Case Study of Susanne: The Modus of Articulation of Recognition and Recall
The Case Study of Maria: Detachment and Attachment to Subject Positions
The Case Study of Sascha: A Search for Alternative Social Positioning Within Politicization
Conclusion
References
Chapter 10: “Everything But Ordinary”? Reflections on Extra-/Ordinariness in Life Course Transitions
Extra-/Ordinariness as a Relational Heuristic
Extra-/Ordinariness in Transitions: Two Empirical Examples
Extra-\Ordinariness in the Transition to Retirement
Doing Jugendweihe – Extra-/Ordinariness in Marking the End of Childhood
Discussion
References
Chapter 11: Becoming ‘(Ab-)Normal’: Normality, Deviance, and Doing Life Course Transitions
A Life in (and Between) Categories: Un/Doing Differences and Doing Life Course Transitions
What Is ‘Normal(-ity)’?
Un/Doing Differences, Doing Life Course Transitions, and Un/Doing Normality
Categories
Combinations
Transitions
(Ab-)Normal People in Transition(s)
References
Part IV: Materialities and Transitions
Chapter 12: The Multidimensionality of Materiality: Bodies, Space, and Things in Transitions
Bodies, Spaces, and Things in Life Course Transitions
The Role of Bodies in Life Course Transitions
The Role of Spaces in Life Course Transitions
The Role of Things in Life Course Transitions
Conclusions
References
Chapter 13: Bodies in Transition. Gendered and Medicalized Discourses in Pregnancy Advice Literature
Analyzing Pregnancy Advice Literature
Managing Risky Bodies and Minds
The Two-in-One Body
Medicalization and Naturalization of Pregnancy
Involvement of Fathers-to-Be in Risk Management
Bodily Changes and Gender
Gendered Evaluations of Pregnant Bodies
Male Pregnancy
Conclusions
References
Chapter 14: How Spatial Sensitivity Enriches Understanding Transitions in Childhood and Later Life
The Need for Attention to Space in Traditional Transition Research on Childhood and Later Life
Bringing Together Two Research Projects on Space in Transitions
Empirical Findings: Tracing Space in Transitions
Space as a Trigger or Barrier of Transitions
Individual Transitions Changing Relationships with Spaces
Space as Social: Sharing Space During Transitions
Shared Right to Define the Completion of a Transition
Conclusion
References
Part V: Outlook
Chapter 15: The Significance of Relationality in “Doing Transitions”
A Brief Recapitulation of Social Theories on Relationality
Why Relationality Is Central to Understanding Transitions
Patterns of Relationality in Transitions
Determination (“Because”; “Resulting from”)
Coincidence (“While”)
Interactive Spiral (“Adding Up”; “in Exchange”)
Genealogy (“Building on”; “Following from”)
Demarcation (“Before/After”; “Not Yet/Already/No More”; “Into/Out of”; “From/To”; “Other Than/Different from”)
Conclusion
References