Vulnerability as a heuristic for interdisciplinary research: Assessing the thematic and methodological structure of empirical life-course studies

Details

Ressource 1Request a copy Under indefinite embargo.
UNIL restricted access
State: Public
Version: Final published version
License: Not specified
Serval ID
serval:BIB_ADA8BF023B00
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Vulnerability as a heuristic for interdisciplinary research: Assessing the thematic and methodological structure of empirical life-course studies
Journal
Longitudinal and Life Course Studies Journal : International Journal
Author(s)
Hanappi D., Bernardi L., Spini D.
Publication state
Published
Issued date
2015
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
6
Number
1
Pages
NA
Language
english
Abstract
Changes in human lives are studied in psychology, sociology, and adjacent fields as outcomes of developmental processes, institutional regulations and policies, culturally and normatively structured life courses, or empirical accounts. However, such studies have used a wide range of complementary, but often divergent, concepts. This review has two aims. First, we report on the structure that has emerged from scientific life course research by focusing on abstracts from longitudinal and life course studies beginning with the year 2000. Second, we provide a sense of the disciplinary diversity of the field and assess the value of the concept of 'vulnerability' as a heuristic tool for studying human lives. Applying correspondence analysis to 10,632 scientific abstracts, we find a disciplinary divide between psychology and sociology, and observe indications of both similarities of-and differences between-studies, driven at least partly by the data and methods employed. We also find that vulnerability takes a central position in this scientific field, which leads us to suggest several reasons to see value in pursuing theory development for longitudinal and life course studies in this direction.
Create date
07/12/2014 1:50
Last modification date
21/07/2020 5:21
Usage data