Upon successful completion of this course:
- Students should be able to explain the life course perspective, its core theoretical elements and its history and development
- Students should be able to apply the life course perspective to core themes of sociology, such as education, work and family
- Students should be able to formulate (new) research questions from a life course perspective
- Students should be able to derive (new) hypotheses from a life course perspective
- Students should be able to explain the added value of qualitative in-depth interviewing to quantitative life course research
- Students should be able to conduct and analyze a qualitative in-depth interview using the life course perspective
- Students should be able to demonstrate English language skills in discussing, reading and writing
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This course introduces the life course perspective as an overarching framework that may guide sociological studies. We discuss the interrelatedness, path-dependency and context-dependency of life course transitions, events and effects. We focus on applying the life course perspective to core themes in sociology, including education, work and family. Students are asked to read literature on these subjects and to identify how the life course perspective has and could further deepen our theoretical and empirical knowledge. To illustrate that applying a life course perspective is a fruitful way to elaborate sociological theories, students are also asked to formulate (new) research questions and deduce (new) hypotheses from a life course perspective.
Besides a theoretical contribution, the life course perspective offers an empirical contribution. The cross-fertilization of quantitative and qualitative methods (or: mixed methods) is at the core of the life course perspective. Therefore, an integral part of this course focuses on the ways in which qualitative methods may enrich quantitative studies. In order to understand this cross-fertilization and, in particular, qualitative interviewing, students conduct and analyze a qualitative in-depth interview on a core sociological theme.
The course expects a very active role of students. Students discuss the literature, make assignments and carry out a small qualitative research using semi-structured interviews. As the course is given in English, the development of English language skills in discussing, reading and writing constitutes an integral part of this course. It means that all communication is in English. This holds true for the assignments and the written examination as well.
The literature (book chapters and journal articles) will be listed in the course manual. We will discuss recent and innovative studies from major sociological journals that theoretically and/or empirically apply the life course perspective. Some classic literature will be used to introduce the life course perspective.
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