Restructuring Work and the Life Course

by Marshall, Victor W.; Heinz, Walter R.; Kruger, Helga; Verma, Anil

• ISBN13: 9780802082428
• ISBN10: 0802082424
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-09-01
• Publisher: Univ of Toronto Pr

Summary

Major economic, technological and demographic forces are combining to influence the ways in which the very structures of people's lives are changed by the work they do. The major defining features of life course, including patterns of entry to and exit from work, are shifting, as is the very nature of jobs and careers. In this multidisciplinary collection of essays, forty-eight social scientists from seven countries examine changes in the organization of work and their impact on people at various stages of the life course. In seeking to consolidate and advance life course theory, the four editors of this volume have sought out and encouraged a wide range of approaches to life course theorizing, methodologies, and research designs. The contributing scholars examine the influence of economic, technological, and demographic forces on public, corporate, and union policies concerning the organisation of work. The topics covered include: education, labour market change, and transitions in the earlier and middle stages of the working life course; later life transitions in relation to the restructuring of work, and retirement transitions; and various aspects of the relationship between individual biography and social structure, with close attention to gender and family issues over the life course.

Author Biography

Victor W. Marshall is Professor of Sociology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Director, University of North Carolina Institute on Aging. Walter Heinz is co-chair of the Life Course Centre, University of Bremen. Helga Krueger is Professor of Sociology and co-chair of the Life Course Centre, University of Bremen.

Table of Contents

Preface. Restructuring Work and the Life Course: Challenges for Comparative Research and Policy	ix
Acknowledgments	xiii
Work and the Life Course: A Cosmopolitan-Local Perspective	3	(26)
Walter R. Heinz
PART ONE. Education, Labour Market, and Transitions in the Working Life Course
Introduction	23	(6)
Walter R. Heinz
Youth, Transitions, and the New World of Work	29	(16)
Graham S. Lowe
The Dutch Labour Market since 1971: Trends in Overeducation and Displacement	45	(16)
Marco de Witte
Ronald Batenburg
The Transition from Vocational Training to Employment in Germany: Does Region Matter?	61	(23)
Hildegard Schaeper
Thomas Kuhn
Andreas Witzel
Restructuring Work, Restructuring Gender: The Movement of Women into Non-traditional Occupations in Canada	84	(23)
Karen D. Hughes
Contested Terrain: Women in German Research Organizations	107	(16)
Jutta Allmendinger
Stefan Fuchs
Janina von Stebut
Christine Wimbauer
Polarization of Working Time and Gender Differences: Reconciling Family and Work by Reducing Working Time of Men and Women	123	(19)
Diane-Gabrielle Tremblay
Balancing Employment and Family Lives: Changing Life-course Experiences of Men and Women in the European Union	142	(17)
Susan Yeandle
Full Time or Part Time? The Contradictory Integration of the East German Female Labour Force in Unified Germany	159	(18)
Reinhard Kreckel
Sabine Schenk
Unemployment and Its Consequences for Mental Health	177	(24)
William R. Avison
Family Turning-points and Career Transitions at Midlife	201	(32)
Deborah Carr
Jennifer Sheridan
PART TWO. Later Life: Restructuring Work and the Transition from Employment to Retirement
Introduction	229	(4)
Victor W. Marshall
Anil Verma
From Officers to Gentlemen: Army Generals and the Passage to Retirement	233	(25)
James J. Dowd
Gender Differences in Transitions to Total-work Retirement	258	(12)
Leroy O. Stone
Andrew S. Harvey
Linking Technology, Work, and the Life Course: Findings from the NOVA Case Study	270	(18)
Donna C. Chan
Joanne G. Marshall
Victor W. Marshall
Is There Life after Career Employment? Labour-market Experience of Early `Retirees'	288	(15)
Gangaram Singh
Anil Verma
Downsizing and the Life-course Consequences of Job Loss: The Effect of Age and Gender on Employment and Income Security	303	(16)
Jill Quadagno
David MacPherson
Jennifer Reid Keene
Lori Parham
Generational and Life-course Patterns of Occupational Retrenchment and Retirement of South African Migrant Labourers	319	(13)
Robin L. Oakley
Changing Working Patterns and the Public-Private Mix in Old-age Security: The Example of Germany	332	(16)
Winfried Schmahl
Japan's Current Policy Focus on Longer Employment for Older People	348	(12)
Takeshi Kimura
Masato Oka
The Career Break as an Alternative to Early-exit Schemes	360	(15)
Peter Simoens
Jan Denys
Restructuring Work in an Aging America: What Role for Public Policy?	375	(26)
Sara E. Rix
PART THREE. Biography and Social Structure: Stability and Change
Introduction	397	(4)
Helga Kruger
Social Change in Two Generations: Employment Patterns and Their Costs for Family Life	401	(23)
Helga Kruger
Reframing Careers: Work, Family, and Gender	424	(22)
Phyllis Moen
Shin-Kap Han
Children of the Gender Revolution: Some Theoretical Questions and Findings from the Field	446	(16)
Kathleen Gerson
Engineers and the Western Canadian Oil Industry: Work and Life Changes in a Boom-and-bust Decade	462	(11)
Gillian Ranson
Baby Boomers in Transition: Life-course Experiences of the `Class of `73'	473	(16)
Paul Anisef
Paul Axelrod
Becoming a Mother or a Worker: Structure and Agency in Young Adult Women's Accounts of Education, Training, Employment, and Partnership	489	(16)
Ian Procter
Returning to Work after Childbirth: A Longitudinal Analysis of the Role of Qualifications in Mothers' Return to Paid Employment	505	(20)
Jane Elliott
Angela Dale
Muriel Egerton
Reconstructing Life Courses: A Historical Perspective on Migrant Experiences	525	(15)
Dirk Hoerder
Contributors	540