TROUBLED TIMES - EDUCATION AND STATUS PASSAGES OF RURAL YOUTH - A CROSS-CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL COMPARISON

This article presents some results drawn from a comparative research p roject among rural youth and families in Iowa (Midwest, USA) and in Me cklenburg and the Altmark (North-East Germany). Based on a theoretical framework which combines the American tradition of life course resear ch with the East German strand of studying the way of life two problem s are examined empirically: How does macrosocial change affect family life by tracing economic effects through family adaption in personal r elations, especially in education and life prospects of the adolescent s? And how does the younger generation in rural areas of the two count ries cope with the decline of agriculture as a traditional business an d a way of life either when the transition from school to work becomes increasingly difficult? By converging the crucial elements of the lif e-course paradigm and the configurations of the way-of-life approach s pecial emphasis is given to theoretical perspectives of linkages betwe en micro and macro processes and to the historical understanding of tr ajectories in changing societies.