Abstract
The future of the life course in the United States over the next several decades, and in some other late-modern societies, is best considered in the light of major demographic and institutional changes. The life course—when defined as interdependent sequences of age-related social roles across life domains (family, education, work, health, leisure)—is a product of the linkages among state (welfare), market and familial (gender) institutions and demographic behaviors across the life span. When these linkages are tightly coupled and universally salient in a population their coherence and normative strength lead to a more highly institutionalized, age-graded life course. Alternatively, when these linkages are loosely coupled, variability (de-institutionalization) in the life course increases: the relationship of age to role transitions weakens and the synchronization of roles across life domains becomes less standardized.
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O’Rand, A.M. (2003). The Future of the Life Course. In: Mortimer, J.T., Shanahan, M.J. (eds) Handbook of the Life Course. Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-306-48247-2_33
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-306-48247-2_33
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