XIX ISA World Congress of Sociology (July 15-21, 2018)

973

The Life Course and Risk

TG04 Sociology of Risk and Uncertainty (host committee)

Language: English

The life course is being reshaped in many parts of the world. People are staying longer in education, marrying and having children later, working to later in life and living longer. They are also more likely to be mobile, have mixed socio-cultural roots or live cross-national lives. The responsibility for managing the new and old risks and uncertainties are arguably being shifted on to individuals and families while social institutions appear to struggle to keep up with changes on a national and global level. In this context, the notion of emerging new biographical risks and how to avoid or manage them is central to current sociological work on identity and the structure of contemporary society. This session will showcase research investigating how new divisions and uncertainties, and a discourse focused on risk and risk management, are reshaping the biography and the life course. Papers are called for that use sociological theories of risk and social change to discuss life course and/or biography. Papers drawing on empirical research are welcome, as are papers making primarily a conceptual or theoretical contribution to sociology and social policy.