Comparative and general variations

Question 1

Blossfeld 2009 –

Answer 1

discusses how longitudinal and cross-national research can give causal explanations for important sociological trends. The three he focuses on are: educational expansion and motherhood; educational expansion and educational opportunity; gender and parttime work; educational homogamy, upward mobility, and growing income inequality. Based on many cross national studies, there is a causal connection for these concepts. On the other hand, couples’ allocation of household work shows no causal connection. He then goes on to discuss national dynamics as they relate to other outcomes. Globalization in general tends to leads young adults to receive lower incomes and have increasing uncertainy.

Question 2

Buchmann and Kriesi 2011 – Transition to adulthood in Europe

Answer 2

Nothing – reread

Question 3

DiPrete and Eirich 2006 – Cumulative Advantage as a Mechanism for Inequality: A Review of Theoretical and Empirical Developments

Answer 3

review the literature on cumulative (dis)advantage. They propose that cumulative implies non-linear and exponential relationships, so simple inequalities in the life course do not live up to this trend. They offer analytical definitions, but I didn’t pay too much attention to them. Here are their four principles:

1. In a CA process, the growth rate in an outcome variable is a function of current values of that outcome.
2. In a CA process, small advantages or disadvantages at an early stage of a process grow larger over time.
3. When growth rates of an outcome variable vary by some status, such as race or gender, and these status-unequal growth rates persist over time or across multiple stages of the life course, the process is often described as CA (although it is not necessarily strict CA, as noted above).
4. Inequality grows over time as a consequence of a CA process. In strict CA, this always refers to growing population-level inequality. Many sociologists focus instead on growing inequality between groups over time, often without paying attention to the broader question of whether inequality in the population as a whole is growing.

They then walk through various examples of CA models (theoretical and analytical), as well as substantive examples of CA processes in various literatures (criminality, education, neighborhoods, employment. etc).

Question 4

Fussell and Furstenberg Jr 2005 – The Transition to Adulthood during the 20th Century: race nativity and gender

Answer 4

use census data from 1900 to 2000 to explore how pathways to adulthood have changed/varied throughout that time. They analyze their data by race (white vs black) as well as “foreign” status. They label individuals by the collection of their statuses (married, parent, education, work, etc.) and check for variation across time and groups. Education has extended for all groups, although they were surprised at the few amount of black people within education/workforce in later years. Marriage has delayed for all groups, except during the 1950s when the country had a lot of wealth. Women have been drawn into the workforce during that time, except a large number of black women had been in the workforce the entire time. F&F suggest that women have developed adaptive strategies, as economic difficulties arise they have gradually participated more in the workforce (hence the 1950s still saw fewer women there). Age norms have shifted, but by age 30 most people have achieved the main roles (leaving educ, working, own home, and parents). Black single mothers shifted significantly from 1950 to 2000 (they arent aware of mass incarceration yet). Pathways have become more varied, as represented by the number of common pathways and the number of people they represent.

Question 5

Juarez and Fayet 2014 – Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries

Answer 5

Nothing - reread

Question 6

Shanahan 2000 – Pathways to Adulthood in Changing Socieites: Variability and Mechansisms in Life Course Perspective

Answer 6

reviews mechanisms which lead to changes in the transition to adulthood, as well as methods to study these changes. Standardiczation is the increasing compactness in the ages of school completion, arriage, parenthood, and beginning one’s career, whereas individualizaiton is found in increasingly diverse sequences of these markers. The mechanisms which lead to changes or direct pathways include: agency and structure. Period effects can lead to disparate outcomes (depression era folks’ agency often failed to overcome structure). TO study the transition, they propose: latent structure analysis, life histories, and subjective understandings.