Constructing Adulthood, Volume 11: Agency and Subjectivity in Adolescence and Adulthood (Advances in Life Course Research)

345 Pages·2007·1.98 MB·English

by  Ross Macmillan

CONSTRUCTING ADULTHOOD:
AGENCY AND SUBJECTIVITY IN
ADOLESCENCE AND ADULTHOOD
ADVANCES IN LIFE COURSE
RESEARCH
Series Editor: Timothy Owens
Recent Volumes:
Volume 1: Work, Retirement and Social Policy,
1986, edited by Zena Smith Blau
Volume 2: Family Relations in Life Course
Perspective, 1986, edited by David I. Kertzer
Volume 3: Personal History Through the
Life Course, 1993, edited by R. S. Olusegun
Volume 4: Delinquency and Disrepute in the Life Course, 1995,
edited by Zena Smith Blau and John Hagen
Volume 5: Self and Identity Through the Life Course in
Cross-Cultural Perspective, 2000, edited by
Timothy J. Owens
Volume 6: Children at the Millennium: Where Have We Come
From, Where Are We Going?, 2001, edited by
Sandra L. Hofferth and Timothy J. Owens
Volume 7: New Frontiers in Socialization, 2002,
edited by Richard A. Settersen, Jr. and
Timothy J. Owens
Volume 8: ChangingLife Patterns in Western IndustrialSocieties,
2004, edited by Janet Zollinger Giele and Elke Holst
Volume 9: The Structure of the Life Course: Standardized?
Individualized? Differentiated?, 2005, edited by
Ross Macmillan
Volume 10: Towards An Interdisciplinary Perspective On The
Life Course, edited by Rene´ Levy, Paolo Ghisletta,
Jean-Marie Le Goff, Dario Spini and Eric Widmer
ADVANCES IN LIFE COURSE RESEARCH VOLUME 11
CONSTRUCTING
ADULTHOOD: AGENCY
AND SUBJECTIVITY IN
ADOLESCENCE AND
ADULTHOOD
EDITED BY
ROSS MACMILLAN
University of Minnesota, USA
Amsterdam – Boston – Heidelberg – London – New York – Oxford
Paris – San Diego – San Francisco – Singapore – Sydney – Tokyo
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CONTENTS
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS vii
PREFACE ix
PART I: INTRODUCTION
‘CONSTRUCTING ADULTHOOD’: AGENCY AND
SUBJECTIVITY IN THE TRANSITION TO
ADULTHOOD
Ross Macmillan 3
PART II: AGENCY: THEORETICAL AND
METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES
AGENCY: AN EMPIRICAL MODEL OF AN
ABSTRACT CONCEPT
Steven Hitlin and Glen H. Elder, Jr. 33
GROWING UP ALONE: THE ABSENCE OF YOUNG
WOMEN’S POSITIVE LIFE MODELS
Pamela Aronson 69
CHANCE EVENTS IN THE LIFE COURSE
Michael J. Shanahan and Erik J. Porfeli 97
SELECTION PROCESSES AND VOCATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT: A MULTI-METHOD APPROACH
Melanie J. Zimmer-Gembeck and Jeylan T. Mortimer 121
v
vi CONTENTS
CHILDHOOD DISADVANTAGE, ADOLESCENT
DEVELOPMENT, AND PRO-SOCIAL BEHAVIOR
IN EARLY ADULTHOOD
J. Brian Brown and Daniel T. Lichter 149
PART III: SUBJECTIVITY IN THE TRANSITION TO
ADULTHOOD
A SUBJECTIVE APPROACH TO SCHOOLING AND
THE TRANSITION TO ADULTHOOD
Aaron M. Pallas 173
ENTRY INTO ADULTHOOD: ARE ADULT ROLE
TRANSITIONSMEANINGFULMARKERSOFADULT
IDENTITY?
Janel E. Benson and Frank F. Furstenberg, Jr. 199
THE ‘‘INNER SIDE’’ OF THE TRANSITION TO
ADULTHOOD: HOW YOUNG ADULTS SEE THE
PROCESS OF BECOMING AN ADULT
Megan Andrew, Jennifer Eggerling-Boeck, 225
Gary D. Sandefur and Buffy Smith
THE NEW ADULTHOOD? THE TRANSITION TO
ADULTHOOD FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF
TRANSITIONING YOUNG ADULTS
Douglas Hartmann and Teresa Toguchi Swartz 253
RELATIVE AGE IN THE TRANSITION TO
ADULTHOOD
Monica Kirkpatrick Johnson, Justin Allen Berg and 287
Toni Sirotzki
AUTHOR INDEX 317
SUBJECT INDEX 325
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
Megan Andrew Department of Sociology, University of
Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA
Pamela Aronson Behavioral Sciences Department,
University of Michigan – Dearborn,
Dearborn, MI, USA
Janel E. Benson Department of Sociology, University of
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Justin Allen Berg Department of Sociology, Washington
State University, Pullman, WA, USA
J. Brian Brown Department of Sociology, Ohio State
University, Columbus, OH, USA
Jennifer Eggerling- Department of Sociology, University of
Boeck Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA
Glen H. Elder, Jr. CarolinaPopulationCenter,Universityof
North Carolina – Chapel Hill, Chapel
Hill, NC, USA
FrankF.Furstenberg,Jr. Department of Sociology, University of
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Douglas Hartmann Department of Sociology, University of
Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
Steven Hitlin Department of Sociology, University of
Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
vii
viii LIST OFCONTRIBUTORS
Monica Kirkpatrick Department of Sociology, Washington
Johnson State University, Pullman, WA, USA
Daniel T. Lichter Bronfenbrenner Life Course Center,
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
Ross Macmillan Department of Sociology, University of
Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
Jeylan T. Mortimer Department of Sociology, University of
Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
Aaron M. Pallas Teachers College, Columbia University,
New York, NY, USA
Erik J. Porfeli Department of Educational Leadership,
College of Education, University of
North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte,
NC, USA
Gary D. Sandefur Department of Sociology, University of
Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA
Michael J. Shanahan Department of Sociology, University of
North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Toni Sirotzki Department of Sociology, Washington
State University, Pullman, WA, USA
Buffy Smith Department of Sociology & Criminal
Justice, University of St. Thomas,
St. Paul, MN, USA
Teresa Toguchi Swartz Department of Sociology, University of
Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
Melanie J. Zimmer- GriffithUniversity–GoldCoastCampus,
Gimbeck School of Psychology, Australia
PREFACE
To borrow from the title of Andrew and colleagues contribution, this vol-
ume ofAdvancesinLife Course Research focuses on the ‘‘inner side’’ofthe
life course. Specifically, the various chapters, in different ways, deal with
issuesofagencyandsubjectivityinthetransitiontoadulthood.Theideafor
this volume originated in an earlier volume of ALCR (volume 9) that
Iedited.Thatvolumefocusedonstructureofthelifecourseandemphasized
empirical works that spoke in different ways to on-going debates over in-
dividualization in the life course in the contemporary era. This earlier vol-
umeprovidedaspringboardforthecurrentoneintwoways.Substantively,
the earlier volume was largely demographic in orientation. The various
chapters emphasized roles and role transitions, trajectories and turning
points, and how the aggregation of such phenomena produced variably
structured life courses. In general, the included works sketched out the
broadcontoursofthelifecourseandeithersituatedthemwithingivensocial
and institutional contexts or considered them across social groups or his-
torical periods. Although the works were all high quality and made impor-
tant contributions,theyadoptedaparticular lensonthelifecourse,amore
macro-view, and paid little attention to social psychological processes that
sitinthebackground.Notthatwewouldexpectanypaperoranyvolumeto
do itall,butissuessurrounding agency, identity, andsubjectivity thatsitin
the background were not explicitly considered. As these latter issues are
extremely worthy of study, they suggested a need for further work.
Theearliervolumealsoservedasecondroleintheimpetusforthecurrent
volume.Inresponsetothecallforpapers,Ireceivedfarmorepapers,allof
extremely high quality, than I could have possibly included. Moreover, it
was clear from reading them that two related but distinct themes were
present. A first conceived of the structure of the life course in structural
terms and focused on questions of differentiation and their meaning.
A second, however, focused on the social psychological processes by which
alifecourseis(hypothetically)structured.Astheimportanceofthelatteris
a rapidly emerging area of study, the series editor Tim Owens and I agreed
to have two volumes with the second being themed around the idea of
‘‘Constructing Adulthood’’ and including works that focused on issues of
ix