ABSTRACT
How Does Life Course Theory Answer the Basic Questions that a Theory of Human Development Is Expected to Address?
Critique of Life Course Theory
Strengths
Weaknesses
Key Terms
The life course perspective offers a framework for understanding and explaining how changing societal conditions and social forces influence development through life. The term life course refers to the integration and sequencing of phases of work and family life over time. Glen H. Elder, Jr. (1985, 1995), a leader in the elaboration of the life course perspective, has created a way of thinking about individual lives embedded in developmental and historical time as well as the linking of interdependent lives over time.
