PERSONAL HISTORIES AND SOCIAL RESTRUCTURING - THE TRANSFORMATION OF APEASANT SOCIETY

Using the capacity of linked census data to combine two levels, indivi dual and aggregate, and two dimensions, longitudinal and cross-section al, the process of structural change is explored to reveal aspects of change which are usually hidden. North Troms, in North Norway, which s till had a peasant economy at the end of the Second World War is used as an example. The trajectories of those economically active in 1960 a nd 1970 are disentangled then reassembled to show how they combined as structural change. Only a minority of personal histories paralleled t he change in society as a whole. Much more structural change resulted from succession of cohorts leaving and entering the labour force. By j oining the study of individuals to that of structures, it is possible to see how change occurs in the spaces between people, out of the effe cts of many contradictions.