On the Dangers of Constructing Artificial Cohorts in Times of Rapid Social Change
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3318591 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Robert V Wells (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1978 |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 103 |
| Publication date | 1978-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Journal of Interdisciplinary History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-1953 • E-ISSN: 1530-9169 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/203671 |
| OpenAlex | W1967536605 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
On the Dangers of Constructing Artificial Cohorts in Times of Rapid Social Change One of the most important methodological developments in the study of history in the last decade has been the increased emphasis on cohort analysis. This technique picks up a group of people who experience some major event in their lives (e.g. birth, marriage, graduation) at the same time and then follows them over the rest of their life cycles to see when other changes occur to the group.1 For historians interested in change over time or in various life cycle patterns, this technique is ideal. Effective study of a cohort assumes that the historian has an appropriate set of data which will allow him to trace the individuals in question over a considerable period of time. Religious or civil registers of births, marriages, and deaths or series of censuses in which definitions remain the same are among the best known of such records. Frequently, however, adequate records for tracing individuals do not exist. Rather than abandon the cohort concept, many historians, especially those with interest in the family, have used information from single censuses to create artificial cohorts. This is done by treating the information in a census for people of particular ages (for example, 20-24, 25-29, 30-34, 35-39, and so forth) as if it also applies to a group of individuals whose lives can be traced over the same ages. Some of the most interesting and influential studies in family history in recent years have made use of artificial cohorts to arrive at their conclusions .2
Political science · Social change · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Law
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,07 |
| Citation span | 1983 - 1992 (10) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |