ABSTRACT
Abstract
The life-span perspective has contributed significantly to an increased appreciation of the role of context in human development. However, little systematic attention has been given to how context is defined and conceptualized. This neglect, which may account for some of the controversy surrounding the interface of the life-course perspective with the social sciences, is addressed in this paper. Four separate (almost always unrecognized) meanings of context in relation to human development are distinguished. Context may be essentially viewed as (a) functionally unimportant, (b) powerful but unorganized, (c) organized but passive, or (d) dynamically and systemically organized. It is argued that the first two views, and to some extent the third, preclude raising important questions about the implications of contextual forces for understanding and facilitating human development. The relation of each of these four views to the life-span perspective and other developmental approaches is discussed. The implications of these different models is illustrated by considering how the phenomenon of the diversity of the aged is conceived and analyzed differently from each of these views.
