Social production function (SPF) theory as an heuristic for understanding developmental trajectories and outcomes

Abstract

Introduction This chapter will try to convince you that Social Production Function (SPF) theory provides heuristics that may help the study of developmental trajectories and outcomes. In order to examine social phenomena, such as the dynamics of divorce rates and female labor market participation, as consequences at the collective level of individual behaviors, Lindenberg (1986, 1991) synthesized basic economic, psychological and social insights into what he called Social Production Function theory. SPF theory combines a theory of individual behavior with a theory of goals. In the 1990s the development of SPF theory continued (Lindenberg 1996; Ormel, Lindenberg, Steverink and Verbrugge 1999) and conceptual applications to quality of life and successful aging were developed (Ormel, Lindenberg, Steverink and Von Korff, 1997; Steverink, Lindenberg, and Ormel, 1998). In the same period the first empirical studies guided by the heuristics of SPF theory were undertaken on bereavement (Nieboer, 1998), giving up independent living (Steverink, 1996) and time-spending patterns (Van Eyk, 1997). These experiences have shaped my belief that SPF heuristics are promising for understanding developmental trajectories and outcomes, both at the individual and collective level. Social Production Function (SPF) theory integrates strengths of relevant psychological theories and economic consumer/household production theories, without their limitations (namely, tradeoffs between satisfaction of different needs are not satisfactorily dealt with in the first, and goals or needs are not in the second).