Life Course Perspective and Sociology of Individuation
The life course perspective is an ambitious research program that has attracted a growing number of researchers in the social sciences and humanities. This perspective attempts to organize the complexity of social life, taking into account the temporality of the socio-historical context, structural constraints and actantial capabilities (agency) of social actors in a situation of interdependence.The craze for the conceptual aspect of this perspective was rarely accompanied by the development of appropriate methods of inquiry that do justice to the principles of life-course perspective. A strong proponent of this approach, Paul Bernard had for some years involved in a project using a mixed methodology investigation, including data networks of different qualitative approaches. In this article we will try to raise issues related to the application of the life-course perspective in small-scale surveys, using a longitudinal estimate, while drawing examples from an ongoing study on the longitudinal follow-up of ‘caregivers of people with dementia of the Alzheimer type. From our point of view, the life course perspective is a tool that allows a close alliance between theory and empirical while inspiring methodological innovations.