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The First-Grade Transition in Life Course Perspective

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Handbook of the Life Course

Part of the book series: Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research ((HSSR))

Abstract

A life course perspective prompts a decided shift in how sociologists have traditionally approached issues of schooling and educational attainment. The core assumption of life course theory—that developmental processes and outcomes are shaped by the life trajectories children follow—has increasingly focused attention on cultural differences and socioeconomic variation in school outcomes and redirected attention to the process of schooling. Children, like adults, are socially organized in ways that have strong implications for their life experiences, including those in school. A life course perspective makes it natural to think about life transitions as turning points, and about the social basis of change and continuity through the successive phases of life (see McLeod and Almazan, this volume).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, 21218-2685

    Doris R. Entwisle, Karl L. Alexander & Linda Steffel Olson

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  1. Doris R. Entwisle
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  2. Karl L. Alexander
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  3. Linda Steffel Olson
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota

    Jeylan T. Mortimer

  2. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

    Michael J. Shanahan

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Entwisle, D.R., Alexander, K.L., Olson, L.S. (2003). The First-Grade Transition in Life Course Perspective. In: Mortimer, J.T., Shanahan, M.J. (eds) Handbook of the Life Course. Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-306-48247-2_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-306-48247-2_11

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