Introduction

Abstract

Although the notion of the ‘life cycle’ has considerable currency within the literature on the family, it has not been a prominent focus for sociologists until relatively recently. Often it has been a taken-for-granted background variable, that is as a residual factor which ‘ought’ to be taken into account. An example of this tendency can be discerned in the study of work orientations. Thus, in a long footnote in one of the volumes associated with the 1975 BSA Conference, Richard Brown observed that:

Several writers have argued that the expectations and priorities of women employees must be differentiated with reference to their position in the life cycle. (Brown, 1976, p. 42)