The Future of the Life Course

Abstract

The future of the life course in the United States over the next several decades, and in some other late-modern societies, is best considered in the light of major demographic and institutional changes. The life course—when defined as interdependent sequences of age-related social roles across life domains (family, education, work, health, leisure)—is a product of the linkages among state (welfare), market and familial (gender) institutions and demographic behaviors across the life span. When these linkages are tightly coupled and universally salient in a population their coherence and normative strength lead to a more highly institutionalized, age-graded life course. Alternatively, when these linkages are loosely coupled, variability (de-institutionalization) in the life course increases: the relationship of age to role transitions weakens and the synchronization of roles across life domains becomes less standardized.