21educational time or trajectory (e.g. postponing marriage to embark on
higher education), working time or trajectory (e.g. postponing marriage
because of unemployment), and all together – embedded into historical
time (e.g. the global economic crisis).
The inclusion of a historical perspective in the analysis avoids theoreti-
cal problems such as those raised by Hobson ( 2002 ), namely the illusion
of a self-contained and static view of the present and its understanding of
a natural state, without any roots in the past. Meanwhile, events may
have an enduring effect over time (Adam and Groves 2007 ). For example,
experiences in early childhood may be crucial for family and personal
network formation in adulthood, and may even be transmitted to the
next generation via family stories.
Massive historical events (such as wars, economic crises, etc.) or larger
socio-cultural environments collectively affect age groups, birth cohorts,
or whole generations. It is relevant to mention two generations that over-
lap with the birth cohorts analysed in this book. The first is the Baby
Boom generation, which roughly accounts for those born between 1943
and 1960. Individuals born in this period grew up during an era of eco-
nomic growth and witnessed the development of Welfare States in most
of Europe (Strauss and Howe 1997 ). The years of their youth coincided
with the civil rights movement of the 1960s–1970s and an increasingly
competitive labour market. In this generation, the intersection of biologi-
cal age and social conditions forged new pathways to family formation
and personal networks. On the other hand, those born between 1961
and 1981 have been called Generation X (Strauss and Howe 1997 ).
Individuals from this generation grew up in an era when new forms of
poverty started to emerge as globalisation intensified. They were socialised
in an environment where allegiance to traditional institutions and roles,
including gender roles, was being increasingly questioned. In other
words, individuals’ lives may be influenced by various types of time, sepa-
rately or at once, synchronically and diachronically. Moreover, influences
of time on social processes may be one-time or continuous. These events
may shape life-cycles of entire cohorts (Elder 1974 ), their subcultures
(Twenge 2006 ), and other social spheres.
Each birth cohort moves through political, economic, social, and cul-
tural environments that may be local, regional, or global. This means that
Contextualising Personal Networks Across Birth Cohorts...