Life-Course Perspectives

Introduction to Section 4: Life-Course Perspectives

Chapters in this section consider the specific roles and challenges for social workers working with populations around the globe at different stages throughout the life course. The section is introduced by an in-depth perspective on the diversity of ‘family’ across different time, social, economic and cultural contexts. Following from this, the next chapters explore the different meanings, roles and dilemmas associated with three specific stages of the life course: childhood and youth; adulthood; and old age. Each chapter discusses the implications of changing global and local contexts for social work activities relating to the needs and characteristics of particular populations.

Life-course perspectives have interdisciplinary roots, particularly in developmental psychology and sociology. Elder et al. (2004) suggest that five general principles underlie a life course approach: the concept of lifelong development involving biological, psychological and social changes; a focus on agency, i.e. the notion that people make choices and act within the opportunities and constraints of their environment; time and place, i.e. the fact that lives are shaped by and embedded in historical and geographical contexts; the significance of the timing of events and transitions within a person's life course; and the principle of linked lives, which acknowledges the role of social networks and the impact of macro-level events on individuals and communities. Many of these notions are likely to be familiar to social workers whose practice is informed by ‘ecological’ frameworks in a broad sense. At the same time, the principles also resonate with themes that have been identified in this handbook as particularly relevant to international social work, because they highlight how the ‘global’ and the ‘local’ are interlinked; acknowledge the importance of contexts (including time and place); and emphasise both the diversity and the commonalities of the human experience.

This diversity is evident in the first chapter (20) of this section, in which Desai considers different types of ‘family’ throughout premodern agricultural, modern industrial and post-modern post-industrial contexts. Cultural practices concerning family formation and family life vary, for example, according to whether ‘traditional’ social norms still hold true or are challenged by changes and [Page 326]influences on both local and global levels. An example is the increasing number of families who live their lives ‘transnationally’ across borders (often as a result of migration). Key issues for social workers in the different contexts include the exploitation and abuse of women and children within patriarchal systems or the commodification of relationships in increasingly consumerist societies. While social workers need to adapt their approaches according to the cultures, beliefs and practices of different families, Desai argues that a human rights orientation is fundamental in order to protect and promote the welfare of families worldwide.

The theme of ‘agency’ as opposed to powerlessness is particularly relevant to social work with children and young people, and this stage of the life course is addressed by Rock, Karabanow and Manion in Chapter 21. While there is widespread international acknowledgement that children are among the most vulnerable members of the world's societies, not least through the almost unanimous ratification status of the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (with the exception of the United States and Somalia), significant differences exist regarding the cultural and social assumptions, legal boundaries and experiences of this life stage. Nearly half of the world's children live in poverty and national provisions for the welfare of all children–and those in need of care–vary enormously. Theories relating to child development have mainly emerged in Western contexts, and these have informed approaches to safeguarding and promoting their welfare at different times. As shown by the examples provided in this chapter (children affected by the global HIV/AIDS crisis; by natural disasters; and children on the street), children are often particularly at risk through global factors impacting on local conditions, but they can also demonstrate enormous resilience. Social workers need to be mindful of these ambiguities and the diversity of children's lived realities in order to effectively protect them from harm.

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