%0 Journal Article
%T Unitary Social Science for Causal Understanding: Experiences and Prospects of Life Course Research
%A Diewald
%A Martin
%J Canadian Studies in Population
%D 2001
%I Canadian Population Society
%X English Longitudinal data are superior to cross-sectional data for explaining socialprocesses. Yet, the existing division of labour in social science is a serious handicap for causalunderstanding of human behaviour. This is demonstrated in this article with the quite unrelatedcoexistence of sociological research on life histories and psychological research on individualdevelopment. Two examples are discussed: the intergenerational reproduction of social inequities andthe openness versus closedness of labour markets. Though there is an increasing awareness of problemsof selectivity and unobserved heterogeneity in conventional social research, statistical modelling ofthese problems cannot replace the need for transdiscinplinary data collection and research. French Les donn¨¦es longitudinaux sont pr¨¦f¨¦rables aux donn¨¦es de p¨¦riode pour expliquer les processus sociaux. Par ailleurs, la division du travail dans les sciences humaines pr¨¦sente un handicap ¨¤ la compr¨¦hension causale des activit¨¦s humaines. Par exemple, il existe en m¨ºme temps la recherche sociologique sur les ¨¦v¨¦nements de la vie, et la recherche psychologique sur le d¨¦veloppement individuel. On consid¨¨re deux exemples: la reproduction inter-g¨¦n¨¦ration de l¡¯in¨¦galit¨¦ sociale, et l¡¯ouverture ou la fermeture des march¨¦s de main d¡¯oeuvre. Quoiqu¡¯il y ait une plus importante appr¨¦ciation des probl¨¨mes de s¨¦lection et de h¨¦t¨¦rog¨¦n¨¦it¨¦ non-observ¨¦e dans la recherche sociale conventionnelle, la mod¨¦lisation statistique de ces probl¨¨mes ne peut pas substituer ¨¤ la collection de donn¨¦es et la recherche transdisciplinaire.
%K GSOEP
%K GLHS
%K causal understanding
%K life course research
%K inter-disciplinary perspective
%K control beliefs
%K individuality
%K action theory
%U http://www.canpopsoc.ca/CanPopSoc/assets/File/publications/journal/CSPv28n2p219.pdf