Anna Schroeder
Homo Optionis – Individualization in the Second Age of Modernity
PhD started at Manchester in September 2006
My research interests are broadly concerned with issues of socio-cultural change after the Second World War, relating to debates around post-modern and post-industrial society. My previous research has been focused on European integration and Europeanization, particularly on national and European identity. My PhD dissertation is about the apparent paradox between structural stability as emphasised by class analysis on the one hand, and social change in line with theories about postmodernization and individualization on the other hand. I intend to do comparative research on the destandardization of the life-course as well as experiences of individualization and social mobility in light of the continuing impact of social class among two post-war cohorts, preferably combining a secondary analysis of longitudinal survey data with qualitative interview data.
Supervisor: Mike Savage