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This series of presentations are an accompaniment to terrific textbook 'Sociology, 7th edition' by Giddens and Sutton (2013). There is a very strong focus on visuals, with many additional short activities designed to foster interaction between teachers and students. The text from Giddens and Sutton is usually paraphrased and reworded to aid the comprehension of students, particularity those of lower language ability than Giddens and Sutton had in mind. The sociology of the age and the life course is the perfect embodiment of contemporary sociology as a whole, and a branch of the discipline with direct relevance to every individual in late-modern capitalist industrial societies. Sociology is the study of how the structure of any particular society largely dictates how individuals must live; the analysis of the plight of the modern individual in a rapidly changing world. By using this frame of reference, we often reveal social phenomena previously regarded as "natural" and eternal as -in actual fact- "social constructions" that are completely dependent on the socio-historical era for their own existence. The sociology of the life course looks at how the meanings attached to something as fundamental as a "stage of life" (e.g. childhood) change across time and space; in other words, in different historical eras and -still today- in different places around this complex and diverse planet, the expectations attached to -say- being pre-teen, a teenager, or someone over the age of 50 are products of capitalist, industrial modernity and therefore very, very recent developments in our 800,000 year human history. This series begins with an introduction to the different aspects of ageing, with an emphasis on the development of social self (looking-glass self), which is something all humans do regardless of time and space; it is part of the psychological process of growing up in all societies. We then establish what social ageing is; the fundamentals of the sociology of ageing. Later chapters of the series analyze the different stages of life, in turn, in socio-historical perspective; beginning with what we would today call "childhood" (pre-teen), before looking at "youth", "young adulthood", "mature adulthood" and finally "later life".
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The Sociology of the Life Course
4- The sociology of young adulthood and the demographic transition
Accompaniment to the superb Giddens and Sutton (2013) (left) Chapter 9, with an assortment of additional accompanying resources and activities
Contents
4 The sociology of young adulthood and the demographic transition
Also in the series…1 How do people age? 2 The sociology of childhood3 The sociology of youth and adolescence5 The sociology of mature adulthood6 The sociology of later life
2 The life stages in socio-historical perspective:
3- Young Adulthood and the Demographic Transition
see G&S 2013:350
We have seen how
industrial modernity
brought the
social constructi
on of
childhood,
and the emergence of
youth culture
But just as “the youth” emerged with the later stages of modernity, for many
the arrival at parenthood and “settling down” has been further
delayed through
“young adulthood”
Activities:
(i) What is it to “settle down”?
(ii) When do you intend on settling down? Is this different to your parents /grandparents?
Across time and space, being in
one’s early twenties is associated with
marriage,
parenthood and a
“mature”, long-term outlook …
Activity:
Review the theme of rapid social change across time-space
This is especially marked in the more
affluent social groups of
the world’s
“developed” nations
Consistent with
demographic transition theory, people in the
more affluent countries are
delaying first childbirth…
Activities:
(i) Review the crucial demographic transition. Why does the average age of first childbirth increase when counties develop?
https://www.boundless.com/sociology/understanding-population-and-urbanization/population-growth/demographic-transition-theory/
(ii) Apart from this factor, why else does the birth rate fall significantly when countries enter modernity?
http://www.gapminder.org/world-offline/
Activity:
Download the fantastic GapMinder World software. Show somebody at home the relationship between GDP and fertility
rates over time (the demographic transition)
Activity: Watch ‘Don’t Panic’ with Hans Rosling.
Rosling is one of GapMinder’s founders, and in this hour-long video
teaches the world about the demographic transition and the ‘over-population myth’ with stunning graphics and documentary footage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eA5BM7CE5-8
…and as careers become
increasingly fluid and
transient , the job
one does in early twenties in increasingly unlikely to be one in which they
“settle down”
Today, far more young women
pursue careers, often
after attaining a
university degree- which
changes the experience of
young adulthood enormously relative to just a few decades ago
Activity:
Look at the picture below. What does it show? Why is this not an ideal situation and –hence- how does the “working woman” in society lower the fertility rate?
This also raises the average age of
first childbirth……and lowers the
fertility rate
Activity:
Why does the increased female workforce participation lower the fertility rate?
Activities:
(i) Which countries –in 2008- had fertility rates lower than the 2.1 required to sustain a population size (without considering migration)?
(ii) Is there a link between fertility rate and GDP? Provide examples.
To some extent, this increase in female participation in the
workforce is due to the
success of the women's’ rights movement and a slight decline of
patriarchal employment conditions and
opportunities…
Activity:
Put the phrase “slight decline of patriarchal employment conditions and opportunities” into your own words, using examples
…but equally it is simply because many
working- and middle-
class families need two wage earners to
lead the lifestyle of late modernity; thus putting
pressure on women to get a degree,
and pursue a career
Activities:
Do you regard increased female workforce participation as a victory for women’s liberation, or a result of increased cost-of-living? What goods and services are included in today’s general “cost of living” but weren’t thirty years ago?
Today a concept of “young adulthood” has emerged with more in
common with youth culture than
mature adulthood
“Young adulthood” is generally
19-30
A time of near-complete independence from one’s parents…
…but without the
responsibility of parenthood,
housing mortgages etc
Ever-increasing social pressure and
opportunity for
consumerism
combine with …
…desires to live an extremely
outgoing, “social”
lifestyle…to “party hard” while young…
Travel…
and enjoy as many experiences as
possible
“Settling down” is in
many ways at odds with all things
late-modern
A time of
individuality, choice,
transience and
unfettered
desire
Young adults today are
“liberated” by the
detachment of sex and
marriage (i.e. pre-marital has
not been so socially acceptable for millennia)
And among many other things, modern
contraceptive technology has allowed
pregnancy to become less
attached to sex
The desire to study,
party, date,
travel and
consume for pleasure
alone
“The importance of this
postponement of the
full responsibilities of adulthood is likely to
increase …
…given the extended period of
education many people
in the developed world now undergo.”Giddens and Sutton
(2013:352)
Activity:
Review all the factors behind declining fertility rates, and ever-increasing average age of first child, as countries develop
With young women now
more likely than
men to be in
higher education, more are
likely to pursue a
career
As well as old norms linking
“settling down” with young adulthood,
gender roles and expectations are also
changingActivity:
List some factors contributing to the rise in female higher education enrollment, in countries of all levels of development
“We can expect scholars studying the life course to carry out
more research on young
adulthood over the next few years.” Giddens and
Sutton (2013: 352)
Giddens and Sutton (2013:352)
Activity:
List a research question regarding young adulthood, to be investigated as a project.
To what extent would the project be qualitative/quantitative? What methods would you use?
