The article discusses such aspects of life history use as: What is a life history? What kinds of problems and what kinds of people are best suited for the use of the life history? What motivates people to write life histories? Does the collection procedure affect the contents? Does life history material speak for itself? How does one analyze life history material? Some guiding principles for the analysis of such material is suggested.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Allport, Gordon.The Use of Personal Documents in Psychological Science. New York: Social Science Research Council, 1941.
2.
Angell, Robert. "A Critical Review of the Personal Document in Sociology 1920-1940 ." In Louis Gottschalk, Clyde Kluckholn, Robert Angell (eds.), The Use of Personal Documents in History, Anthropology and Sociology. New York: Social Research Council, 1945, 177-232.
3.
Becker, Howard. "The Relevance of Life Histories." In Norman Denzin (ed.), Sociological Methods. London: Butterworths, 1970, 419-428.
4.
Blumer, Herbert.An Appraisal of Thomas and Znaniecki's "The Polish Peasant in Europe and America ." New York: The Social Science Research Council, 1939.
5.
Brothers, Joan. "Unpublished Research Notes on Using the Life History." University of London, England. Cited with her permission.
6.
Burnett, John.Useful Toil. London: Allen Lane , 1974.
7.
Cavan, Ruth Shonle; Hauser, Philip M.; and Stouffer, Samuel A. "Note on the Statistical Treatment of Life History Material." In Norman Denzin (ed.), Sociological Methods: A Sourcebook. London: Butterworths, 1970, 436-441.
8.
Conwell, "Chic" and Sutherland, Edwin.The Professional Thief. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1937.
9.
Denzin, Norman (ed.). Sociological Methods: A Sourcebook. London: Butterworths , 1970.
10.
Denzin, Norman, "The Life History Method." In Norman Denzin (ed.), The Research Act. Chicago : Aldine, 1970.
11.
Glaser, Barney and Strauss, Anselm.The Discovery of Grounded Theory. Chicago: Aldine, 1967.
12.
Gorer, Geoffrey.Himalayan Village: An Account of the Lepchas of Sikkim. New York: Basic Books , 1967.
13.
Gouldner, Alvin.For Sociology. London: Allen Lane, 1973.
14.
Hackney Workers Educational Association.Working Lives: A Peoples' Autobiography of Hackney (I). London: Centerprise, 1975.
15.
MacFarlane, Alan.The Origins of English Individualism. Oxford: Blackwells, 1978.
16.
Mead, George Herbert.The Philosophy of the Act (Charles Morris, editor). Chicago: University of Chicago, 1959.
17.
Nin, Anais.A Woman Speaks. (edited by Evelyn J. Hinz ) Chicago: Swallow, 1975.
18.
Rogers, Carl. Cited by Paul Filmer, Michael Phillipson et al., New Directions in Sociological Theory. London: Collier Macmillan , 1972.
19.
Samuel, Raphael.Village Life and Labour. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1975.
20.
Shaw, CliffordR. The Jack Roller: A Delinquent Boy's Own Story . Chicago: Phoenix, 1966.
21.
The Natural History of a Delinquent Career (in collaboration with Maurice E. Moore). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1931.
22.
Brothers in Crime. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1938.
23.
Snow, Edgar.Red Star Over China. New York: Grove, 1938.
24.
St. Clair, David (trans.). The Child of the Dark: The Diary of Carolina Maria de Jesus. New York: Signet, 1962.
25.
Thomas, W.I. Quoted by HerbertBlumer in An Appraisal of Thomas and Znaniekci's "The Polish Peasant in Europe and America" New York: The Social Science Research Council, 1939.
26.
Thomas, W.I. and Thomas, D.W. "Situations Defined as Real are Real in their Consequences." In Gregory P. Stone and Harvey A. Faberman (eds.), Social Psychology Through Symbolic Interaction. Massachusetts: Ginn , 1970, 154-155.
27.
Thomas, W.I. and Znaniecki, Florian.The Polish Peasant in Europe and America. New York: Dover, 1958.
28.
Thorns, David (ed.). New Directions in Sociology. New Jersey: Rowan & Little-field, 1976.
29.
Warren, Catharine E.Perceptions of Achievement: A Study of Women in Two Occupations in England and in Canada (2 volumes). London: The University of London, England, 1979.
30.
Warren, Catharine E. "Using the Written Life History for Program Evaluation." Canadian Journal of University Continuing EducationVII No.2 (Winter 1981), 10-14.
31.
Warren, Catharine E. and Ziebarth, Charlotte (eds.). "A Report of the Rural History Project." In Women's Studies in Higher Education: Papers and Proceedings from Conference. Calgary: Faculty of Continuing Education, 1974.
32.
White, Leslie A. "Autobiography of an Acoma Indian." In Smithsonian Institute, New Material from Acoma. Washington: Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 136 ( 1943), 326-337.
33.
Woolf, Virginia. "The Art of Biography." In Encyclopedia Britannica: Gateway to the Great Books (VI). Chicago: Benton, 1963, 191-196.
