Introduction to life course theory

The life course theory comes from the Chicago School's research on immigrants, and it is an interdisciplinary theory that is emerging internationally. It focuses on the great influence of drastic social changes on individual life and development, and regards individual life course as the product of greater social forces and social structure. The basic analytical paradigm of life course theory is to understand the individual's life course as a sequence composed of multiple life events. The same group of life events, if sorted differently, will have different effects on a person's life.