Rereading Personal Narrative and Life Course by Brian Schiff

Author:Brian Schiff [Schiff, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781118984864
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2014-09-18T00:00:00+00:00

Adulthood in Social and Historical Time

Assumption of adult roles provides the possibility for further elaboration of the personal narrative, as transformed through the resolution of the identity crisis of adolescence. The elements of this narrative are tested, in particular, by the assumption of parenthood. (Cohler, 1982, p. 221)

A narrative approach to the study of lives suggests not only that individual lives are based upon ongoing interpretive activity, but also that the human life course is itself a matter of collective interpretive activity. Hence, the very ideas of childhood, adolescence, or adulthood represent discourses of human interpretation. The meaning of these moments in the life span is socially situated and varies across time and place (e.g., Aries, 1960/1962; Elder, 1974; Erikson, 1950; Kett, 1977; Lieblich, Chapter 6 of this volume; Neugarten, 1996). Our third point of elaboration centers on Cohler's (1982) commitment to a life course perspective on human development which views lives as intimately linked to cultural, historic, and economic contexts (e.g., Elder, 1974; see Schiff, Chapter 1 of this volume). We suggest that adulthood itself ought, through this theoretical lens, to be conceived not as an inevitable moment of biological maturation but rather as a social and cultural discourse to which individuals orient their personal narratives.

Strongly influenced by Elder (1974) and Neugarten (1979), Cohler (1982) situates his theory in the life course, rather than traditional life span, perspective in developmental science (see Elder, 1998). The life span paradigm traditionally associated with developmental psychology takes an ontogenetic perspective emphasizing individual processes with only a superficial account of context (Dannefer, 1984). A sociogenic perspective accords more weight to context and to the self-society link (Dannefer, 1984). Cohler's (1982) life course approach is consistent with a sociogenic perspective that recognizes adulthood not as a biological phenomenon of aging but as a form of human social organization intended to provide both intelligibility for individual lives and a mechanism for social reproduction. Hence, Cohler's (1982) account places matters of history and historical timing at the center.

The life course is therefore a matter of ongoing interpretation, as the social and economic needs of societies shift with human invention and cultural practices (e.g., Dannefer, 2003). With the rise of industrialism came a longer period of delay for entry into the workforce, a subsequent longer period of schooling, and the establishment of the concept of adolescence as its own distinct life stage marking the transition between childhood and adulthood (Kett, 1977). The meaning of adulthood has also shifted radically with social and economic change, with the nature of late capitalism characterized by an even longer period of delay for entry into certain forms of labor involved in an information-based economy (Arnett, 2000; Shanahan, 2000). These social and economic shifts have resulted in another new stage of the life course dubbed emerging adulthood (Arnett, 2000, 2004, 2011). Emerging adulthood represents a period in which many in postindustrial societies extend their education and delay milestones that previously occurred at younger ages, such as marriage and parenthood. Rather than identity

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