Life Choices on Different Stages of the Life Course — Authobiographies of One Generation

Abstract

The article studies people's life choices across their life course based on the autobiographies and follow-up in-depth interviews of randomly selected respondents from the generation born in 1960—1975. Of all life events mentioned as significant in the autobiographies or identified as such in the in-depth interviews, three quarters were classified as the situation of choice. A situation of choice is characterized by the space of choice, its breadth and freedom from serious constraints. 40% of all choice situations considered were categorized as situations with broad choice, 30% as situations with significant limitations, and 20% as narrow choice situations. The constraints were material difficulties, infrastructural possibilities, as well as external normative and internal value factors, previous personal decisions, and decisions of other people. The space of choice varies for different social groups. Women find themselves in situations of narrow or limited choice more often than men; people with low socio-economic status are limited in choice more often than people with medium or high socio-economic status.

The author of this study proposes a classification scheme for the nature of choice, distinguishing normative, active-creative, forced, and conformal choices. About half of life choices are made on normative grounds, about one third are active-creative, while forced and conformal choices are much less common. Positive consequences from the point of view of a person's self-realization more often arise as a result of active-creative choices, less often as a result of normative choices. Situations of choice-overcoming or conformal choice in most cases entail negative consequences. Factors contributing to life choices with positive long-term results are favorable socio-historical conditions, readiness for change and certain risk, independence in decision-making, awareness of one's own desires and goals.

The life choices of people from the generation born in 1960—1975 and growing up during the radical transformations of the 1990s were limited by both institutional and general societal conditions and value-normative factors. The analysis highlights such conceptual features of life choices as complex subjectivity, limited rationality, dependence on previous choices and the choices of others, and long-term consequences.

Acknowledgments. The research was done with the support of the Russian Science Foundation, project No. 23-18-00635 «Life course, values, expectations of the generation entering the adult life in 1990x, — longitudinal survey after 30 years».