Download Chapter 5 - Biography and the Sociological Imagination

Chapter 5 – Biography and the Sociological Imagination – Shanahan and Macmillan
From Macro to Micro
Important note for FINAL PAPER:
- The first page of this chapter (p. 235) outlines the ways in which lives are the same at
any given time and place:
o Comprises socially and culturally defined phases with their age-graded roles,
responsibilities, and opportunities;
o Reflects ongoing life course mechanisms and principles (ch. 2)
o Is structured by life course concepts like transitions and pathways (Table 2.1)
o Is subject to macro forces that institutionalize and standardize biographies
(Table 3.3)
o And reflects socially embedded processes of agency and subjectivity that
extend across the phases of life to shape the character and content of the life
course (Table 4.1)
- At the bottom of p. 235, Shanahan and Macmillan make the case for how “every life
is different because all these principles, concepts, and mechanisms come together in
singular ways for each person” showing how biographies are different.
- Use these for your final paper. This is precisely what you are trying to do in the final
paper – show how biographies are the same yet unique.
Micro-Macro Link
- Not a lot of research on this link in life course research
- Don’t know much about how people – collectively and individually – change the life
course (p. 237)
o Most research is on how social structural features change the life course
(which is what Shanahan and Macmillan have mostly chronicled in their book
so far)
- Shanahan and Macmillan focus on three areas of research that have explored the
micro-macro link in general and then they ask the questions that life course
sociologists are asking about these linkages. They don’t have answers, just questions.
They are trying to get us to think like life course sociologists who are grappling with
the idea that individuals (and groups of individuals) change the life course. They
focus on three areas where the micro shapes the macro:
o Genetics
o Social agency
o Globalization
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GENETICS
- Read p. 238 – “Many people are under the impression that genes dictate intelligence,
key features of one’s personality, and complex behaviors like the consumption of
addictive substances (e.g., alcohol).”
- DISCUSSION
o Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Why or why not?
o Shanahan and Macmillan argue this is not true. Why?
 Evidence suggests that genes and environment combine in complex
ways to make specific behaviors more or less likely – geneenvironment interaction – read example on p. 238 labeled “good
example”
 Four hypothetical children example at bottom of page as well is a good
example
College Educ
D
B
Low Verbal
High Verbal Ability
C
A
Less than HS Educ
-

A and D are about the same
p. 239 – “the genes, by themselves, do not
explain the ultimate difference in verbal ability,
but rather it is the combination of genes and the
children’s social context that is decisive”
p. 239 – “Because the genes themselves are fixed over the life span, the role of the
changing environment in translating genes into behavioral outcomes is the principal
point of interest for the life course sociologist.”
o Look at social control – it changes in the environment which means that it
combines with genes in different ways producing different life course
outcomes
 Where there is more social control, genes matter less; when there is
less social control, genes matter more in terms of determining behavior
 Example – age of first intercourse – pp. 240 – 244
o When lots of social control exists, even people with a
genetic propensity for early sexual experiences,
postpone first intercourse
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
o Over time, less social control in terms of social mores
and norms regarding sex and we’ve seen earlier age at
first intercourse so genetic predispositions for early
sexual experiences can “dictate” more of the life course
experiences and outcomes than in situations of high
social control (including social embeddedness as well)
Example – Migration and alcohol consumption – pp. 245 – 249
AGENCY
- p. 250 – we know people exercise agency and that sometimes it makes plans come to
fruition and other times not; we just don’t know much about how this happens but we
often try to link it to macro phenomena focusing on cultural and social settings of the
person
- again, little research on how these micro and macro elements come together
DISCUSSION
o Does everyone have the same shot at practicing/employing their agency?
Research on Planful Competence to illustrate how agency is linked to macro-level
phenomena
- Planful competence – p. 251 – in mid-adolescence
- Clausen’s concept
- def. – p. 251 – “refers to the thoughtful, assertive, and self-controlled processes
by which people formulate and pursue goals (e.g., a specific occupation).
- according to Clausen – “at mid-adolescence (around 15 years of age) differences
in planful competence become especially important to the later life course, since it
is at this time in life that people begin to make choices about schooling, work, and
family.”


“Young people with high levels of planful competence have a finetuned awareness of who they are and what they are good at, and
consequently they can make realistic plans about the future.”
“In contrast, people with low levels of planful competence have a poor
sense of who they are and what they are good at, and consequently
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

they are likely to make unrealistic choices about school, work, and
family.”
He argues then, that differences in planful competence at around 15
years of age have profound and long-lasting effects in the life course.
Shanahan and colleagues build on this idea and add the idea of
opportunities to the equation
o Hypothesized – p. 252 – “that agency matters most when
individual have realistic opportunities that present a range of viable
options. When such opportunities do not exist, the ability to make
choices is limited, regardless of differences in agency.”
o Example – great depression young men
 Those who came of working age during the great
depression did not have opportunities for jobs so whether
they were planful or not did not matter. They had no
opportunity to exercise their agency/choice
 Those who were still school age during the great depression
were able to be planful because by the time they got out of
school, the country was coming out of the depression and
therefore they could exercise choice/agency
o P. 254 – makes some conclusions about what these data mean for
micro-macro link in terms of agency
 “show that social context (i.e., macro phenomena) can
enable or disable agentic orientation. In times of very little
choice, agency matters little, if at all.”
 “such cohort interactions are age-graded and vary
according to where they fit into the overall biography.
Agency matters at certain times in history for certain
segments of the life course, depending on one’s age.
Timing and context thus lay a major role in how salient
personal agency is to the life course.”
GLOBALIZATION
- P. 259 – “One major force altering the transition to young adulthood today is
globalization, which refers to the increasing integration of economic, cultural, social, and
political systems across national geographic boundaries.
- John Meyer and colleagues note the homogenization of societies and therefore
our life courses
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- institutions of schooling, work, medicine, politics and even family become
increasingly similar across nations
Demographic Transition
- p. 259 – widely regarded as a global phenomenon during which forces of
modernization, including both economic and cultural change, reduce the average
number of children born in a population.
- the theory suggests that societies are initially characterized by high fertility and
high mortality but gradually shift (or transition) to low-fertility/low-mortality
regimes.
Demographic Transition Theory
Image of Demographic Transition Theory from:
http://globalsoc.wordpress.com/2008/04/18/demographic-transition-theory/
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- Combine Demographic Transition theory with the expansion of formal education and
you get some interesting outcomes for life course experiences and transitions to
adulthood globally
- p. 260 – “the nature of formal education is central to life course inquiry in that it
represents one of the central sources of socialization and attainment with lifelong
implications. Naturally, then, the intersection of the demographic transition and
the expansion of education is a central feature of globalization.”
- Example Brazilian Schools
- Read Cases 8, 9 and 10 – pp. 265-266
DISCUSSION
- Do you see any similarities in cases 8 and 9 to the folks at your service site?
- p. 266 – “illustrate how the problem of poorly educated parents
“reproduces” across the generations. That is, poorly educated parents
often face financial difficulties which require the shortening of their
children’s education; those children, in turn, will face financial difficulties
and ask the same sacrifices from their children, and so on.”
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