MPIDR Working Paper

Political economy and life course patterns: the heterogeneity of occupational, family and household trajectories of young spaniards

Baizán Munoz, P., Michielin, F., Billari, F. C.
Also published in: Demographic Research 6, 191-240 (2002). Internet: http://www.demographic-research.org/Volumes/Vol6/8/6-8.pdf
MPIDR Working Paper WP-2001-037
Rostock, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (December 2001)
Open Access

Abstract

We explore the strong linkages between macro changes and the dynamics of educational, occupational, family, and residential careers of young Spanish adults born between 1945 and 1974. We review theory and evidence on macro factors: changes in the welfare system, centrality of the family as a service provider, and the changing role of women. We outline some hypotheses of how life course trajectories, and their heterogeneity, change across cohorts. We build data on sequences of states using FFS. In our analysis, we find an increase in the discontinuity of careers and of the heterogeneity among cohort members, especially for employment. Women´s careers are becoming more similar to those of men. Family and household formation is postponed, with a limited spread of post-nuclear family forms.
The Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) in Rostock is one of the leading demographic research centers in the world. It's part of the Max Planck Society, the internationally renowned German research society.