The French writer Arnold van Gennep first called attention to the phenomena of status passages in his Rites of Passage one hundred years ago. In Status Passage, first published in 1971, the movement of individuals and groups in contemporary society from one status to another is examined in the light of Gennep's original theory. Glaser and Strauss demonstrate that society emerges as a comparative order. In this order, every organized action, collective or individual, can be seen as a form of status passage.From one status to another-from childhood to adolescence to adulthood, from being single to being married, movement from one income group, social class or religion to another-there are passages that entail movement into different parts of a social structure and loss or gain in privileges. Types of status passage are described by their proper ties. The authors present a formal theory of status passage in the form of a running theoretical discussion.The concepts and categories discussed in Status Passage are illuminated by a large number of examples chosen from a wide range of human behavior, and the applicability of the theory to still other examples is made apparent. The result is a stimulating and provocative book that will interest a wide range of sociologists, social psychologists, and other social scientists, and will be useful in a variety of courses.

The French writer Arnold van Gennep first called attention to the phenomena of status passages in his Rites of Passage one hundred years ago. In Status Passage, first published in 1971, the movement of individuals and groups in contemporary society from one status to another is examined in the light of Gennep's original theory. Glaser and Strauss demonstrate that society emerges as a comparative order. In this order, every organized action, collective or individual, can be seen as a form of status passage.From one status to another-from childhood to adolescence to adulthood, from being single to being married, movement from one income group, social class or religion to another-there are passages that entail movement into different parts of a social structure and loss or gain in privileges. Types of status passage are described by their proper ties. The authors present a formal theory of status passage in the form of a running theoretical discussion.The concepts and categories discussed in Status Passage are illuminated by a large number of examples chosen from a wide range of human behavior, and the applicability of the theory to still other examples is made apparent. The result is a stimulating and provocative book that will interest a wide range of sociologists, social psychologists, and other social scientists, and will be useful in a variety of courses.

This introductory book provides an insight into sociological life course research and informs about its theoretical assumptions, analytical concepts and main results. Sociological life course research - like biographical research - has developed into an independent and fruitful field of research since the end of the 1960s. It is true that half a century earlier, in their famous study of "The Polish Peasant in Europe and America" (1918-20), Thomas and Znaniecki had already used life records to examine the connection between social change, social structures, and the life histories of individuals. However, such a research perspective was supplanted by other methodological-conceptual approaches to empirical social research for over fifty years. It was not until the 1960s that sociological interest in life course and biographical theoretical issues reawakened. Today, life course research is considered one of the most important conceptual innovations in sociology in recent decades. The content The life course as a social construction - What is "life course research"? - The life course as an institution - Collective life courses: generations, cohorts and social change - Structures of the life course - Life course research - a conceptual perspective - Life course research, quo vadis? The author Prof. Dr. Matthias Wingens teaches sociology at the University of Bremen, Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS).

"This is a beautifully written book that takes the reader to the heart of ethnography as experience. Readers can walk in the shoes of ethnographers who have travelled before them, and learn as they learned. Sara Delamont is an undisputed expert in both ethnography and education, and here illustrates she is also a tour de force in writing style. All the important ingredients for a recipe to make a good quality ethnography are here, and they are served up with relish!" - Karen O’Reilly, Loughborough University "This is a powerful, richly nuanced, evocative work; a stunning and brilliantly innovative intervention. It provides ground zero - the starting place for the next generation of social scholars of education. A major accomplishment." - Norman K. Denzin, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The ethnography of education has been conducted by sociologists and anthropologists, largely in self-contained and self-referential ways. This book celebrates the continuities and the strengths of ethnographic research on education in formal and non-formal settings, deliberately transgressing the sociology/anthropology divide. Education is broadly defined to cover many settings other than schools, in many countries, for many age-groups. The book is structured thematically, including chapters on movement and mobilities, memorials and memories, time and timescapes, bodies, and performativities, multi-sensory research, and narratives. Strategies for designing innovative ethnographic projects, and for fighting familiarity are provided.