Research Overview • Projects • European University Institute

Theoretical Focus

From a theoretical point of view, CLIC focuses on (1) the causal linkages within one domain of life such as how early educational disadvantage may lead to an accumulation of further educational disadvantages in later life (Matthew effect); (2) the linkages between events in different life domains such as how upward and downward moves in an individual’s job career impact on his/her fertility decisions or health; (3) the interdependence of events among linked life courses such as the effects of the career advancement of husbands on their wife’s labor force participation; or (4) the impact of processes at multiple levels on the individual life course such as how organizational changes in a company at the meso level influence individual career advancement, or changes in the business cycle or unemployment at the macro level affect family formation or career advancement at the individual level.

Comparative Dimension

CLIC tries to establish both the generality of findings about the life course found in one particular society and to explain the specific impact of variations in institutional settings and social structures of different societies on specific life phases or the life course as a whole.

Methodological Focus

CLIC utilizes available longitudinal data (biographical data, life course data, panel data) from diverse societies. CLIC tries to establish both the generality of findings about the life course found in one particular society and to explain the specific impact of variations in institutional settings and social structures of different societies on specific life phases or the life course as a whole. Methodological approaches include qualitative and quantitative work as well as studies of the life course in different historical periods. An important aim of the Center is also to apply and further advance innovative methods of longitudinal data analysis.