ABSTRACT
The concept life course implies a form, a pattern, a sequence of elements that together constitute a coherent observable configuration. The concept is abstract, however. The kinds of elements used to identify the shape of the life course must be specified by the analyst. Organizing an analysis of the life course in this way has several advantages. The most obvious is that it makes it possible to identify individual differences in the life course patterns being observed. Delimiting the specific elements and dimensions used in charting the shape of the life course serves a useful purpose, but the picture that emerges is only a partial one. The analysis presented in the earlier chapters took into account a number of sources of influence on the shape of the education and occupation strands of the life course of a birth cohort of young British men and women as they negotiated the transition from adolescence to adulthood.
