Research of Intra-generational Heterogeneity in the Life Course Paradigm

  • Sigita Kraniauskienė
  • Liutauras Kraniauskas
Keywords: generation, cohort, life course, social change, methodology, intragenerational variability

Abstract

The article discusses methodological issues how to explore and interpret intra-cohort and intragenerational variability within the theoretical framework of the life-course paradigm. Starting with an assumption that social variation within one generation and its permanence over the time should be explained as a sociological fact, we propose methodological guidelines how to approach the topic of intragenerational variability in the analysis of narratives of family histories. To demonstrate how to analyse and read empirical data, we present three life stories of women, born in 1936, who migrated to Klaipėda Region, Lithuania, after World War II. The narrative analysis, supported with demographical data, shows how the early experience of socialization is eventually translated into ethnic differences and solidifies the structure of intragenerational variability.
Published
2020-12-01
Section
Articles