One question now being raised concerns whether the

One question now being raised concerns whether the division of the life course into
three stages is still functional. Not only are people living longer, they are also healthier than in
the past. Most older people have no serious disabilities, and many remain active well into their
80s (Manton and Land, 2000). Why, then, can’t older people learn new skills so that they can
continue to contribute to society? In fact, recent trends show that people are no longer retiring
permanently from their career jobs. Rather many older people scale down their work hours or
take a different type of job rather than leaving the workforce entirely (Giandrea et al., 2007).
That reduces the burden on public benefits and allows society to take advantage of the older
workers’ skills and knowledge. Today, there are serious proposals to reduce age differentiation
and spread education, work, and leisure over the entire life course.
Over the past few decades, research incorporating the life course perspective has
emphasized that aging is a dynamic process that must be studied in a historical and social
context and that age, period, and cohort effects shape the aging experience for individuals and
social groups (Ferraro et al., 2009). Although much of the research on the life course
emphasizes modal patterns, large numbers of people do not fit these patterns. Rather, the
path through life is quite heterogeneous, challenging the idea that there is an
“institutionalized” life course (O’Rand, 1996). There is also much to be learned about how the

life course stages described by psychologists interact with wider structural changes. Given our
recognition that stages are constantly being transformed, a more useful approach may be to
emphasize the transitions that link life phases to diverse trajectories.
QUESTIONS:
1) _____ refer to the role changes individuals make as they age and move through
different social roles that provide them with different identities.