The Life Course from a Range of Different Theoretical Concepts - Essay Example

LEARNING THROUGH THE LIFE By Location The life from a range of different theoretical concepts Introduction Several fundamentals characterize the life course approach including social and geographical location of a person, timing in their lives, variability and social ties to other persons. I will discuss the different concepts of the life course in the essay. Various examples to emphasize in the several life courses will also be a discussion on the article. Discussion SocioHistorical and Geographical Location A person’s way of development is embedded and transformed by events that occurring on the historical period and the geographical location that the person lives. A person that was born and raised during the war period will not have the same characteristics as that of a person born and raised during patriarchy season. These events shape an individuals reasoning and the choices they make in life. It eventually changes or shifts the process of human development. Families and people interact in sociohistorical time and different geographical locations. It determines people behaviour and decisions. A person born and bred in Africa cannot have the same characteristics as that of a person born in America or the UK. They have different behaviours and view life in different perspectives (Beckett & Taylor 2010). Many people got married after World War II due to the economic boom at the time. The economy was steady, and people had regular jobs, thus easier to raise a family. Successive generations, however, encourage men and women to remain single for a long time. The current generation is not I a hurry to marry and get children compare to the last one. Women empowerment and success is the result of little or late marriages. Life Timing There is individual time, generation time and historical time. The various phases of life such as childhood, adolescent, middle age and old age influences the positions and roles of a person. Its basis is on the cultural shared definitions of age. It is the cohort or age group, that group people. Historical timing is referred to as the time according to large scale event or changes that affect families. Examples include political changes, economic changes, technological innovations, and war. Cohorts are groups of people who get born during the same time. These people experience social changes in a particular culture in the same age and sequence (Cowie 2012). The different types of cohort affect opportunities in work, education, and family life. The baby boom generation (1946-1964) that followed the World War II in United States was a large cohort. The cohort when they got to the age of working, the surplus labour wages went down, and unemployment increased. Generation Y group, people born in the 1980s and 1990s started competing for slots in universities in the 21st Century. The groups develop strategies about their lives, depending on what they are facing at one particular time. The baby boom generation delayed marriages had fewer children and increased women in the labour force. It was due to the economic constraints they were facing. The large cohorts have some people resulting in negative ways to deal with the circumstances such as suicide. A transition is a life change that is a discrete event within a trajectory. A series of trajectory can envision a time. A trajectory is a series or sequence of linked states conceptually defined by a range of experiences. Examples of transitions include the education system and occupational career. It is usually accompanied by rituals and ceremonies that get shared socially. Examples of transitions include wedding ceremony, graduation ceremonies and birthdays. Trajectory, on the other hand, is a long-term pathway, with development patterns in social institutions such as family or education. Life course perspectives emphasize the way pathways, transitions and trajectories get social organizations. Transitions results in changes in social identity, social status, and role involvement. Trajectories can include several transitions over a long period. An off age transition may include a teenage girl getting pregnant and being forced to raise their child. Reversal transition includes a young adult having to return home after moving out. Variability or Heterogeneity Heterogeneity is another life course. It is the diversity of life structure and life processes. A person must not only consider the model and average transition and development trends, but also consider variability in the process. Cohorts are not homogenous in their behaviours and characters. Different people of the same age group differ in terms of social class, gender, ethnicity, religion, and family structure (Boyd, Roberts & Helen 2010). The ability of the individuals to adapt to different life conditions varies from one person to another. Resources and support one have in life determine the kind of person they will be in the future. For example, young adults with weak family ties may not be able to return back home during difficult economic times because of the problems at home. Diversity in viewing life increases as someone gets older rather than when he or she were young. Age is an important factor when it comes to diversity. The more people live, the more their experiences and vision towards life. The greater the life, the greater the exposure one has to the factors that affect aging. Linked Lives and Social Ties Lives are interdependent and connected in many ways and several levels. Macro level events such as the war affect a person’s behaviour and consequently their families. Family relationships are also affected by events such as the death of a close family member. These events can trigger vulnerability and stress for an individual. Individuals can also have adaptive behaviour and family resilience (Green 2010). Life planning and matters concerning the family’s future can cause riffs between the family members. Individual’s goals and expectations differ from one person to the next, and this can bring tension in the family. Human Agency and Personal Control A person is capable of making life decisions that will shape both their economic and social future. The person sets goals used to shape the future. One’s choices and competence to plan are part of self-control mechanism that people have to enable them to make decisions (Jackson & Scott 2000). Opportunities and constraints also affect a person’s decision regarding institutional involvement and their social relationships. Personal control helps families and the society to negotiate and transverse life course experiences and events. The past shapes the future Decisions, opportunities and conditions one experience during the early life course significantly affects the later life course of the individual. The past has the potential to shape the people’s future. It is a domino effect. It occurs at different stages in life and in different groups. The current generation can transmit to the next generation the reverberations of the events and circumstances that shape life history. Living through the time of the feminist is an example. The conditions and timing under which earlier life events also occurred matters. Witnessing domestic violence in your home or dropping out of school affects a person’s future and sets up a chain of events and circumstances for a person and their families. The past affects the future mental health, socioeconomic status, and the marital patterns. The concept helps us understand the social inequality we experience in life. The effects of the evolving sense of self and others on learning through the life course The world is full of social, information and technological changes that affect human behaviour. These factors give human beings an opportunity to express the life events that happen to them better. Core Properties of human behaviour There are four principal agencies regarding human behaviour. Intentionality, forethought, self-reactive and self-reflective. Intentionality is the way people form intentions regarding their lives that include plans, actions and strategies to realize their intention. People forethought their actions before acting and reacting to them. It includes more than the usual direct plan towards future directed plans. It involves temporary extension of one’s agency through the forethought. People set goals for themselves and anticipate outcomes from their goals. Forethought produces a direction, cohesiveness, and meaning towards someone’s life (Kehily & Swann 2003). People do not only plan for their lives, but also have self-reactive towards their plans and actions. They are self-regulators who adopt personal standards that help them regulate and reflect on their life course. People do things that make them achieve satisfaction and self-worth. They also refrain themselves from actions that will ensure their reputation. People are also self-examiners of their actions. Through being self-aware of themselves, they can reflect on their efficiency and the soundness of their thoughts and actions. It makes them have a meaning to their pursuits and adjust their life course where necessary. Self-efficacy beliefs People personal judgement on their ability to organize and execute several life courses on their ability is what is self-efficacy beliefs. It is the foundation for their motivation, well-being and accomplishments. People have to believe their actions will produce the desired outcome; otherwise, they cannot participate in it. Self-efficacy touches almost every aspect of human lives (Parker-Rees & Leeson 2010). The success or failure that human beings experience has many factors that influence the actions. A person’s skills and knowledge play a big role in determining their actions. For example, a student who has scored a grade B in their exams. Getting the grade does not have any causal properties. A student who worked hard and scored an A in the same exam may view the grade B student differently from the one that scored grade C, who also worked hard in the same examination. The grade A student will view the B with disappointment, but the grade C student will receive the same with admiration. People’s level of motivation and their actions have a base on what they believe rather than what is true. The behaviour of persons, therefore, has a base on their beliefs about their capabilities rather than what they can achieve. People’s self-accomplishments are, therefore, better seen in their self-efficacy beliefs rather than their previous accomplishments, knowledge, and skills. Self-efficacy beliefs are influenced by different factors in a person’s life at that particular moment. They have a powerful influence in a person’s life. Intimate relationships There are four basic temperate dimensions that exist in human beings; emotionality, activity, impulsivity and sociability. Human beings have the ability to exercise these temperate dimensions at different times in a person’s life course. The mother-child relationship is the first intimate relationship between two individuals. It occurs during the act of breastfeeding the child (Clark & McDowall 2010). The baby reduces tension by sucking on the mother’s breast for nourishment. The action serves as a prototype for relationships of that person later in life. The need for security for the infant by the caregiver influences how the child will handle stress and tension later in life. An example of such is from the attachment of the infant to the mother that creates a secure child and later a secure adult. The interaction with peers can also determine how the child was cared and nurtured when he/she was an infant. The child will interact and enjoy the company of their peers when they have an intimate upbringing. The child with better nurturing will show more self-reliance and control. The children become more socially competent and popular. Children who are now teenagers and adolescent must be able to adapt to the changes of becoming adults. The children discover they have more emotional and sexual needs. They have to take responsibility of the person they have become by distancing themselves from their parents. Friendships become important as a teenager and the time they spend with their families reduces (Zwozdiak 2007). Studies show the connection between parents and teenagers reduce by more than half as they go through this life course. The teenager then grows to be a young adult and must discover now who they are and their beliefs. The young adults form intimate relationships and friendships. They show adaptive and valuable dialogues the adults had when they were teenagers. The persons now show their personalities that have influences from the time they were infants. An adult views their past as a series of factual events. They, however, go on missions of uncovering the facts about their upbringing. Adults search themselves in their beings rather than on other individuals (Hutchison 2011). The person then combines their different selves and forms a well-articulated life story. These actions, then can guide a person’s emotions and their personal traits. Conclusion A number of concepts have been in use to determine the life course. Each of them makes a distinctive contribution to life and human behaviour. The contents developed from each concept can be formulated in the general generation framework that includes historical time and facts. The relationship one has with the time they are infants to when they become adults greatly influences the kind of people they become in their lives. The relationships are important for a person to cope with adjustments and transitions in life. References Beckett, C &Taylor, H, 2010, Human growth and development, SAGE Publishers Ltd, London. Boyd, D. & Roberts, B. & Helen, L 2010, The growing child, Pearson Education, London. Clark, R. & McDowall 2010, Childhood in society for the early years, SAGE Publishers Ltd, London. Cowie, H, 2012, From birth to sixteen years: childrens health, social, emotional and linguistic development, Routledge, London. Green, L 2010, Understanding the life course: sociological and psychological perspectives, Polity Press, Cambridge. Hutchison, E 2011, Dimensions of human life behaviour: A Life Course Perspective. Available from: http://www.sagepub.com [13 January 2003]. Jackson, S. & Scott, S 2000, Childhood IN: Social Divisions, Macmillan, University of York. Kehily, MJ & Swann, J 2003, Childrens cultural worlds, Open University, London. Parker-Rees, R & Leeson, C 2010, Early childhood studies: an introduction to the study of childrens worlds and childrens lives, SAGE Publishers Ltd, London. Zwozdiak, MP 2007, Childhood and youth studies, Brunel University, London. Read More