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| Acknowledgments | |
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| Introduction | |
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| - Societal Provision of Life Scripts and Casts | |
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| The Life Course in Modern Society | |
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| Social Construction and Individual Organization The Institutionalization of the Life Course Rationalization of the Economy and Polity The Ideology of Individualism State Regulation of the Life Course Cultural Representation of the Life Course and of Life Stages | |
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| Validated Social Identities Social Structure and Action Strategies | |
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| An Outline of Bourdieu's Theory of Practice The Individual's Life Course | |
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| Actual Sequences of Positions and Roles Biographical Orientations and Strategies | |
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| Contemporary Societal Transformations and the Changing Nature of the Life Course Contradictory Effects of Education as a Credentialing System The Changing Structure of Occupational Careers Diversification of Family Life Rationalization of Lifetime | |
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| The Impact of New Information Technologies Changing Cultural Representations of Life Stages | |
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| From Stability to Flexibility? | |
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| Social Dynamics between Rationalization and Individualization | |
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| Destandardization of the Life Course? | |
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| The Dialectics between Choice and Constraint of Individual Action Destandardization of the Life Course and Biographical Perspectives and Strategies | |
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| Changing Passages to Adulthood The Social Construction of Youth The Increasing Obsolescence of Youth as a Well-Defined Status Passage | |
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| - From the 1960s to the 1980s | |
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| Differing Life Conditions and Life Experiences in the Transition to Adulthood | |
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| The Sociohistorical Context of the High School Classes of 1960 and 1980 Historical Time and the Aging Process The Impact of Historical Differences in the 1960 and 1980 Cohorts | |
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| Biographical Orientations and the Passage to Adulthood in a Changing Society Continuity and Change in Status Expectations and Anticipated Timing of Life Events Shifting Patterns in the Transition to Adulthood | |
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| The Increasing Prominence of Education in Everyday Life Changing Composition of Credentials and New Forms of Educational Tracking Access to Higher Education | |
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| Who Profits from the Educational Expansion? | |
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| Occupational Choices | |
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| Somethings Old and Somethings New Male and Female Labor-Force Participation Patterns Devaluation of Educational Credentials Labor Market Value of Credentials and Social Value of Degree Holders Titles and Jobs | |
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| Growing Dependency of Occupational Positions on Educational Credentials Occupational Status Attainment | |
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| Direct versus Indirect Status Inheritance | |
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| The Growing Diversity of the Private Life Course The Timing of Marriage Timetables for Parenthood | |
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| Outcomes of Biographical Projects | |
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| Social Dependency of Matches and Mismatches Outcomes of High School Educational Plans Outcomes of High School Occupational Plans | |
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| Conclusions | |
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| Appendix | |
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| Notes | |
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| References | |
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| Index | |