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Description: This seminar examines the life course paradigm, its origins, theoretical principles, methodologies, and policy implications, with special focus on inequality and health. Key societal institutions offer unequal access to age-graded social roles and resources (based on social class, race/ethnicity, gender, and other dimensions of inequality) that shape the course of development, and in doing so, have pervasive impacts on health. We will consider how inequality in the family, education, work, the military, and in the criminal justice system impact long-term cumulative processes that influence health behaviors and outcomes at different ages and life stages. Emphasis is on recent studies inspired by the life course perspective, conceptual and methodological challenges in understanding the nexus of life course inequality and health, and promising directions for future research. Our discussions will also explore the implications of life course studies for social policies intended to reduce the health risks associated with life course inequalities.

(2) A student-led discussion. Seminars are the place for lively exploration of ideas. The student leader will bring up issues related to the required readings, and prepare several questions related to the readings and topics for each seminar. They should stimulate critical and evaluative discussion. I provide some examples for illustration (these are general in character; they need to be specified and elaborated for each topic:

How does the selection help us to understand specific life course inequalities (which you identify) and their consequences for health? How can the concepts be applied to life course phenomena other than those explicitly considered in the selection you read? Can the empirical findings be generalized to other phenomena? To other times and places? Are there gaps or unaddressed issues which should be considered? Does the selection raise questions amenable to future empirical investigation? Does it provide information or data relevant to social policy? How does the reading address your particular interests?

A. An analysis of a life course concept of your choosing (for example, cohort, transition, trajectory, generation, age grading, age norm, age identity pathway, agency, cumulative disadvantage, accentuation, resilience, or others). Trace the development of the concept historically; indicate how it has been useful in promoting understanding of processes relevant to an understanding of life course inequality and health; describe how it has inspired empirical research; discuss its limitations; and indicate the kinds of research that are necessary to further illuminate its application. (approximately 20 double-spaced pages of text; in addition, include an abstract and a reference list).

B. A journal-type article on a topic related to the study of life course inequality and health, involving the analysis of data of your choice, qualitative or quantitative. (approximately 20 double-spaced pages of text; additional materials include abstract, footnotes, reference list, figures and tables).