Sociological Perspectives on the Life Cycle

Abstract

Students of the life cycle have given much attention to the biological timetable of human development, but much less attention to the socio-historical context. A few of the major sociological concepts significant for understanding personality are briefly reviewed–namely, social system, social role, and socialization, and each is discussed in relation to a time dimension in looking at the life course. The life cycle is then viewed from each of three dimensions of time: life time (or chronological age); historical time; and social time, or the system of age grading and age expectations which shapes the life cycle. After a brief discussion of age norms as a system of social control, and of age stratification in society, there follows a description of the changing rhythm of the life cycle in American society, illustrating how historical time, social time, and life time are intertwined.