Updating womens life course: theoretical and methodological considerations.

As Merton (1967) elaborates in his treatise on social theory and social structure there exists a reciprocal relationship between social theory and social research. On its surface this statement appears straightforward and obvious but as Merton goes on to describe the actual implementation and elaboration of the proposed bidirectionality of the two prove troublesome. He states ... account has ... pointed to the need for a closer connection between theory and empirical research. The prevailing division of the two is manifested in marked discontinuities of empirical research on the one hand and systematic theorizing unsustained by empirical test on the other. This is certainly the case in recent research in the life course. In their previous work the authors demonstrated the feasibility of a new empirical methodology which more adequately operationalizes life course concepts (Lillard Panis and Upchurch 1994). In their current paper they draw upon those empirical findings and go some steps expanding upon the life course perspective. The disjuncture between key concepts in the life course paradigm and their actual operationalization and analysis has been noted by others (see Heinz 1991). Elder (1995) describes the development of the life course paradigm as a convergence between intellectual and technical innovations in the areas of sociology study design and statistical methodologies during the 1960s. As in any area of science there has been an evolution in the sociology of the life course with further elaboration of concepts and improved dynamic statistical models. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the process of empirical observation and theory reciprocity with the specific example of womens life course in the contemporary US. They do this by first outlining the current life course paradigm and perspectives then discussing statistical methodologies used in the past and their methodological approach. Finally they present examples of empirical findings and discuss their implications for continued development and elaboration of life course concepts. (authors)