ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates that the utility of extending the time scale in evaluating the social ramifications of water resources development. The research perspective is the juxtaposition of life events such as birth, marriage, parenthood, retirement and death with the unexpected life events of relocation and loss of occupation induced by land acquisition. The notion of mutual career contingencies, i.e., the interactions of people and their families across generational lines over time, is used here to integrate the case-level data on occupational transfer, retirement, land availability, rental and purchase. People’s occupational careers and family life-cycles are entwined with those of others and with the availability of agricultural land as well as other social resources. Using a perspective of mutual career contingencies, environmental planners recognize that routine changes in land use and land transfers through deed, bequest and rental are closely related to personal, family and occupational life-cycle transitions.
