This series of presentations are an accompaniment to terrific textbook 'Sociology, 7th edition' by Giddens and Sutton (2013). There is a very strong focus on visuals, with many additional short activities designed to foster interaction between teachers and students. The text from Giddens and Sutton is usually paraphrased and reworded to aid the comprehension of students, particularity those of lower language ability than Giddens and Sutton had in mind. The sociology of the age and the life course is the perfect embodiment of contemporary sociology as a whole, and a branch of the discipline with direct relevance to every individual in late-modern capitalist industrial societies. Sociology is the study of how the structure of any particular society largely dictates how individuals must live; the analysis of the plight of the modern individual in a rapidly changing world. By using this frame of reference, we often reveal social phenomena previously regarded as "natural" and eternal as -in actual fact- "social constructions" that are completely dependent on the socio-historical era for their own existence. The sociology of the life course looks at how the meanings attached to something as fundamental as a "stage of life" (e.g. childhood) change across time and space; in other words, in different historical eras and -still today- in different places around this complex and diverse planet, the expectations attached to -say- being pre-teen, a teenager, or someone over the age of 50 are products of capitalist, industrial modernity and therefore very, very recent developments in our 800,000 year human history. This series begins with an introduction to the different aspects of ageing, with an emphasis on the development of social self (looking-glass self), which is something all humans do regardless of time and space; it is part of the psychological process of growing up in all societies. We then establish what social ageing is; the fundamentals of the sociology of ageing. Later chapters of the series analyze the different stages of life, in turn, in socio-historical perspective; beginning with what we would today call "childhood" (pre-teen), before looking at "youth", "young adulthood", "mature adulthood" and finally "later life".

1. The Sociology of
the Life Course
4- The sociology of young adulthood and the
demographic transition
Accompaniment
to the superb
Giddens and
Sutton (2013)
(left) Chapter 9,
with an
assortment of
additional
accompanying
resources and
activities

2. Contents
4 The sociology of young adulthood and the demographic transition
Also in the series…
1 How do people age?
2 The sociology of childhood
3 The sociology of youth and adolescence
5 The sociology of mature adulthood
6 The sociology of later life

3. 2 The life stages in socio-historical perspective:
3- Young Adulthood and the
Demographic Transition
see G&S 2013:350

4. We have seen how
industrial
modernity brought
the social
construction
of childhood,
and the emergence of
youth
culture

5. But just as “the youth” emerged with the later
stages of modernity, for many the arrival
at parenthood and “settling down” has
been further delayedthrough
“young adulthood”
Activities:
(i) What is it to “settle
down”?
(ii) When do you
intend on settling
down? Is this
different to your
parents
/grandparents?

6. Across timeand space, being in one’s
early twenties is associated with marriage,
parenthoodand a “mature”,
long-term
outlook …
Activity:
Review the theme of
rapid social change
across time-space

8. This is especially marked in the more
affluent social
groups of the world’s
“developed” nations

9. Consistent with demographic
transition theory, people in the more
affluent countries are delaying
first childbirth…
Activities:
(i) Review the crucial demographic
transition. Why does the average age
of first childbirth increase when counties
develop?
https://www.boundless.com/sociology/understanding-population-
and-urbanization/population-growth/
demographic-transition-theory/
(ii) Apart from this factor, why else does the
birth rate fall significantly when countries
enter modernity?

10. Activity:
Download the fantastic GapMinder World software. Show somebody at home
the relationship between GDP and fertility rates over time (the demographic
transition)
http://www.gapminder.org/world-offline/

11. Activity: Watch ‘Don’t Panic’ with Hans Rosling.
Rosling is one of GapMinder’s founders, and in this hour-long video teaches the
world about the demographic transition and the ‘over-population
myth’ with stunning graphics and documentary footage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eA5BM7CE5-8

12. …and as careersbecome increasingly
fluid and transient,
the job one does in early twenties in increasingly
unlikely to be one in which they “settle
down”

13. Today, far more young women
pursue
careers, often after
attaining a university
degree- which changes the
experience of
young adulthood
enormously relative to just a few
decades ago
Activity:
Look at the picture below.
What does it show? Why is
this not an ideal situation
and –hence- how does the
“working woman” in society
lower the fertility rate?

14. This also raises the average age of
first childbirth… …and lowersthe
fertility rate
Activity:
Why does the increased
female workforce participation
lower the fertility rate?

16. Activities:
(i) Which countries –in 2008- had fertility rates
lower than the 2.1 required to sustain a
population size (without considering
migration)?
(ii) Is there a link between fertility rate and GDP?
Provide examples.

17. To some extent, this increase in
female
participation in the
workforce is due to the success
of the women's’ rights
movement and a slight decline of
patriarchal
employment conditions
and opportunities…
Activity:
Put the phrase “slight decline of
patriarchal employment
conditions and opportunities”
into your own words, using
examples

18. Activities:
Do you regard increased female
workforce participation as a victory
for women’s liberation, or a result
of increased cost-of-living? What
goods and services are included in
today’s general “cost of living” but
weren’t thirty years ago?
…but equally it is simply because many
working- and middle-class
families need two wage
earners to lead the lifestyle of late
modernity; thus putting pressure on women to get a
degree, and pursue a career

19. Today a concept of “youngadulthood”
has emerged with more in common with
youth culture than
mature adulthood

20. “Young adulthood” is generally
19-30
A time of near-complete
independence
from one’s parents…

21. …but without the
responsibility
of parenthood,
housing
mortgages etc

22. Ever-increasing social pressure and
opportunityfor
consumerism
combine with …

23. …desires to live an extremely outgoing,
“social” lifestyle…to
“party hard” while young…

24. Travel…

25. and enjoy as many
experiences as possible

28. “Settling down” is in many ways
at odds with all things late-modern
A time of
individuality,
choice,
transience
and unfettered
desire

29. Young adults today are “liberated” by
the detachment of sex and
marriage(i.e. pre-marital has not been
so socially acceptable for millennia)

33. And among many other things, modern
contraceptive technology
has allowed pregnancyto become
less attached to sex

34. The desire to study, party,
date, travel and
consumefor pleasure alone

36. “The importance of this
postponementof the
full
responsibilities
of adulthood is likely to increase …

37. …given the extended period of
educationmany people in
the developed world now undergo.”
Activity:
Review all the factors
behind declining fertility
rates, and ever-increasing
average age of first child, as
countries develop
Giddens and Sutton (2013:352)

38. With young
women now
morelikely than
mento be in higher
education, more are likely
to pursue a career
As well as old norms linking
“settling down” with
young adulthood, gender
roles and expectations are also
changing
Activity:
List some factors contributing to the rise in
female higher education enrollment, in
countries of all levels of development

39. “We can expect scholars studying the
life course to carry out more
research on young
adulthood
over the next few years.” Giddens and Sutton (2013: 352)
Activity:
List a research question
regarding young adulthood, to be
investigated as a project.
To what extent would the project be
qualitative/quantitative? What
methods would you use?