Motivation: Life Course and Sociological Perspectives

Steven Hitlin; Matthew A. Andersson; Glen H. Elder

doi:10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.26037-6

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Book chapter

Motivation: Life Course and Sociological Perspectives

Steven Hitlin, Matthew A. Andersson and Glen H. Elder

International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, pp.940-945

Elsevier Ltd, Second Edition

2015

DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.26037-6

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Abstract

Recent developments in life course research have enriched the core principle of human agency, moving past personality-based understandings toward an exploration of the ways that human reflexivity interacts with personality to motivate the bounded selection of life course pathways. We build on literature detailing the roles of self-efficacy, personal control, and optimism to suggest economical ways to conceptualize and measure the mutually intersecting influences of individual motivational dispositions and social structures on people's linked lives and life course pathways.

Age structure

Agency

Life course

Motivation

Optimism

Personal control

Self-efficacy

Social structure

Sociology

Details

Title: Subtitle: Motivation: Life Course and Sociological Perspectives
Creators: Steven Hitlin - University of Iowa
Matthew A. Andersson - Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
Glen H. Elder - Carolina Population Center, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Resource Type: Book chapter
Publication Details: International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, pp.940-945
Edition: Second Edition
DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.26037-6
Publisher: Elsevier Ltd
Language: English
Date published: 2015
Academic Unit: Sociology and Criminology
Record Identifier: 9984306247102771

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