ABSTRACT
Among social constructions of age, the life course is probably the most powerful institution. Inasmuch as the institutionalised life course is centred around paid work, transitions into and out of the labour market, therefore, deserve major attention, especially because recent labour market policy reforms in many welfare states have aimed at earlier entry into and later exit from the labour market of the labour force. Labour market transitions reflect chrono-normative assumptions of age and employment (re)produced in complex interactive practices involving several actors. The aim of the paper is to analyse how transitions in and out of the labour market are ‘done’ and how age as a category of difference is constructed and deconstructed within practices and processes of ‘doing transitions’? In two case studies conducted in Germany on young people's transitions from education to work and on older people's transitions from work to retirement the relation of individual, institutional and discursive practices are re-constructed. Both cases concern transitions in constellations of social disadvantage and related policies revealing the chrononormative matrix underlying labour market transitions. Following a Linking Ages perspective, comparative analysis reveals complementary structures of discursive, institutional and individual practices shaping transitions into and out of the labour market in the German transition regime. In conclusion, we highlight the need to relate the analysis of age-based chrononormativities with that of the processual and practical character of transitions in the life course – especially with regard to labour market transitions.
