Is there a theoretical link between the gendering of life courses, worklife, and family participation? Is the "primary group" family to be considered part of the social structure? Is it passively exposed to its influences without any autonomy, is it rather an exclave from it, or is it an indispensable focus for understanding the social positioning of women and men? Most sociological analyses of social stratification, with their primary orientation on occupation, view the family-if they consider it at all-as hardly more than an alternative sampling unit, or at best as a rather secondary individual status variable ("marital status"). Conversely, family sociology pays more attention to social stratification, but here again, only few theoretical attempts focus the relationship between family and stratification. Life course research, if it is not practiced as an extension of the status attainment paradigm, has a bias similar to that of stratification research: the family is largely approached as a women's (problem) area, irrelevant to men's trajectories. In or-mille, participation professionnelle et genre. Il n'y a pas que les acteurs individuels qui pratiquent le "doing gender", les institutions font de même. I. Sociology: Looking at the "in-between" Most sociologists would agree that sociology is mainly about social relationships and their forms, and that such relationships exist not only between individuals, but also between social systems, sectors, groups, etc. Sociology's most general explanatory strategy could even be described as trying to find the reasons for the actors' social behavior not within them, but "around" them: in the social relations and institutional arrangements that frame their practical situations. However, this postulate encounters often decisive limitations, largely because of the social organization of sociology itself. Most sociologists are specialists of more or less traditionally defined areas: of the family, of international inequalities, of deviance, of the economy, of gender, of organizations, etc. Sociology can explain this state of affairs, but hardly justify it. 2 Typically, adult members of actual societies are members of a multitude of social fields, with different logics and structures. They have to cope with their multiple participations and with the conflicts and everyday problems they entail. How are we to understand the complexities of the actors' life-management if we con

Recent developments of life-course theory and research are discussed in a comparative framework. With accelerating social change, the life course has become a topic that centres on the interplay of personal and institutional dynamics through the life span that provides the temporal and social contexts for biographical planning and stock-taking. Modern life-course analysis asks to what extent biographies are losing their structural embeddedness in favour of negotiations among individuals, opportunities, institutions and social networks. First, a historical account about European and North American traditions of life-course research is presented, delineating the cohort/life-event and the life-history approaches. Second, three conceptual frameworks are illuminated that focus on the relationship between social change and human lives: linking mechanisms, structuration and institutional arrangements (with a focus on age and gender). Concerning methodology, longitudinal studies that use quantitative as well as qualitative methods are necessary to understand the interrelationships between social change and biography. Third, innovative themes for research are presented, relating to the issues of agency and institutions, the timing of transitions and linked lives. The article concludes with a call for more cross-cultural life-course research.

The transition from school to work is a story that meshes the life histories of youth and the economic and social development of societies. Drawing on reports from diverse regions of the world, this article describes the range of adolescent experiences as they encompass the completion of school and the commencement of adult work. As the 21st century begins, major threats to the preparation of youth for adult work include deficiencies in schools, hazards of the informal work sector, a lack of clear connections between school and work, and the misuse or underutilization of technology. Yet this transition is also a story of optimism, as the significance of youth for economic and social development is increasingly appreciated at the national and international levels. Accordingly, this article considers the broad policy implications of the survey and then details the lines of action that address challenges to the preparation of youth for adult work. Although many regions of the world share common challenges, the integration of youth into the 21st century world of work will depend on how each country formulates a unique response that is sensitive to its demographic profile, social institutions, cultural heritage, and economic conditions.

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