100780: The Life Course Perspective

About the Course:

The life course perspective, an emerging interdisciplinary perspective, has potential for helping social workers bridge their micro and macro worlds. This article provides an overview of the empirical and theoretical roots of the life course perspective and its basic concepts and major themes. Five basic concepts are defined and discussed: cohorts, transitions, trajectories, life events, and turning points. Six major themes that are emerging from interdisciplinary research are examined: interplay of human lives and historical time, timing of lives, linked or interdependent lives, human agency in making choices, diversity in life course trajectories, and developmental risk and protection. Strengths and limitations of the perspective for use by social workers are discussed and connections are made to narrative approaches to practice. COURSE SYLLABUS I. Introduction II. Basic Concepts of the Life Course Perspective III. Major Themes of the Life Course Perspective IV. Human Agency in Making Choices V. Diversity in Life Course Trajectories VI. Developmental Risk and Protection VII. Strengths and Limitations of the Life Course Perspective

Publication Date:

2005/ Vol. 86, No. 1

Author

Elizabeth D. Hutchison, MSW, PhD

About the Author:

Associate Professor School of Social Work Virginia Commonwealth University

Recommended For:

This course is recommended for social workers, counselors, psychologists, and other human services and behavioral health professionals who seek knowledge about the life course perspective. It is appropriate for participants with all levels of knowledge about the topic.

Course Objectives:

1. describe some of the empirical and theoretical roots of the life course perspective and its basic concepts and major themes.

2. identify strengths and limitations of the life course perspective for use by social workers and describe connections to narrative approaches to practice.