Contextualising personal networks across birth cohorts and countries

Abstract

This chapter starts with a depiction of the macro-level features of Portugal, Switzerland, and Lithuania. Assuming the core tenets of the life course, it draws attention to relevant historical markers in each country’s chronology since the 1950s, and to crucial political and social transformations. At a second stage, it provides a multidimensional depiction of the birth cohorts, which highlights communalities and dissimilarities namely in terms of biographical pathways, familial and occupational trajectories, normative frameworks, and structural conditions. By doing so, we offer a profile of each cohort across countries, which is a key element in understanding how individuals build their family and personal relationships. Underlying our approach is the theoretical stance that personal networks are best understood within the broader contexts in which they exist and evolve.