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In May, 1977, a group of sociologists and behavioral scientists, including some, such as Smelser and Erikson, trained in psycho-analysis, met at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences in Palo Alto, California, for "unstructured exploratory discussion" on the "human life-cycle as a whole, focusing especially on the developmental vicissitudes of the adult years." It would appear that there is "a burgeoning interest in life-stage theory," as one of the contributors (M. Fiske, p. 243) points out, and this is reflected in the nature and content of the book.
The conference was deliberately interdisciplinary; the book is equally so, although the sociocultural approach assumes a dominant position. The interdisciplinary idea is certainly commendable, but when a series of essays of this nature is bound between the covers of a book, the volume should be carefully edited so that the jargon of one discipline does not bcome another discipline's stumbling block.
The title of the book notwithstanding, work plays a minor role, and love has merely a walk-on part. And if the thematic unity suggested by the title is not maintained, the reason may lie in the fact that the real intent of the book is to "identify central issues" that have come to dominate the study of adulthood as a developmental phase in its own right.
A considerable proportion of the contributions conveys the impression that the data base consisted of responses to questions and questionnaires. Yet, several of the contributors, especially J. Giele, confirm that data so obtained is not reliable and can lead to conflicting conclusions. There appears to be no unitary theory, as yet, on the nature of development during adulthood. The prevailing intellectual atmosphere conveyed by this book is of subjective impressions, broad generalizations, and rather tentative conclusions based on sociological research methods.
Two articles are of more than ordinary interest: Ann Swidler writes of the cultural meaning