How do 50-year-olds imagine their future: social class and gender disparities
- This paper empirically examines differences in how 50-year-olds imagine their future. It draws on answers to an open-ended survey question in a large British cohort study—the National Child Development Study. Over 6,700 written responses about respondents’ imagined future are examined using text mining methods. Results from a relative frequency analysis and a topic model reveal differences according to gender, occupational class, and educational qualification. The cohort members’ written texts reflect different lifestyles. Men are more likely to mention sport, like golf and football, whereas women are more prone to use words related to family and friends. Respondents with a degree are more likely to write about cultural activities, such as museum or theater visits. Overall, the findings reveal gendered and socially stratified patterns in individual future perceptions, contextualized in relation to leisure, health, and family.
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| Author: | Maximilian WeberORCiDGND |
|---|---|
| URN: | urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-751257 |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440211061567 |
| ISSN: | 2158-2440 |
| Parent Title (English): | Sage open |
| Publisher: | Sage Publ. |
| Place of publication: | Thousand Oaks, Calif. |
| Document Type: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Date of Publication (online): | 2021/11/29 |
| Date of first Publication: | 2021/11/29 |
| Publishing Institution: | Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg |
| Release Date: | 2024/09/19 |
| Tag: | future life; imagination; lifestyle; stratification; topic model |
| Volume: | 11 |
| Issue: | 4 |
| Page Number: | 11 |
| First Page: | 1 |
| Last Page: | 11 |
| Note: | Data availability statement The analysis is based on data available from the UK Data Archive. Data are available at https://doi.org/10.5255/UKDA-SN-6978-1 with the permission of the UK Data Archive. |
| Institutes: | Gesellschaftswissenschaften |
| Dewey Decimal Classification: | 3 Sozialwissenschaften / 30 Sozialwissenschaften, Soziologie / 300 Sozialwissenschaften |
| Sammlungen: | Universitätspublikationen |
| Licence (German): |  Creative Commons - CC BY - Namensnennung 4.0 International |
