“Unlinked lives”: Elaboration of a concept and its significance for the life course
This research study explores the concept of "unlinking" in the context of social networks and life course research. Unlinking refers to the process by which individuals experience a disconnection or separation from various aspects of their lives, such as relationships, roles, statuses, and places. These unlinkings can occur due to life transitions, changes in personal circumstances, or broader societal shifts.
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Highlights
The article presents nine propositions to elaborate on the concept of unlinking
- Unlinkings are a natural part of life: They can occur due to changes in personal relationships, roles, statuses, or places. For example, divorce represents an unlinking from a spouse, while retirement signifies an unlinking from a work role.
- Unlinkings are often connected to life transitions or status changes: These can be socially recognized and may involve rituals or reinforcements. For instance, the closure of a factory can lead to a collective sense of loss for the community and workers, affecting their identities and social ties.
- Unlinkings affect personal networks: They can lead to the reconfiguration of social groups and necessitate renegotiation of relationships. For example, a couple's breakup can impact their shared friends and family dynamics.
- Unlinkings vary in their degree of permanence: Relationships can be deactivated and reactivated over time, and longevity can lead to both enduring and "long-term lousy" relationships.
- Unlinkings can be difficult when unexpected or out of one's control: The lack of clear social scripts for managing unlinkings can make them more challenging, especially when they are non-normative or unexpected.
- Unlinkings can lead to gains: While unlinkings can be difficult, they can also result in positive outcomes, such as the severance of unhealthy ties or the freedom from relationships that were burdensome.
- Unlinkings can affect social capital: The loss of weak ties or bridge connections can lead to unanticipated losses of social capital, which can impact an individual's opportunities and contribute to social inequality.
- Unlinkings can lead to changes in network density: The loss of a central figure in a network, such as a "kinkeeper," can decrease the network's density, affecting communication and solidarity but also potentially reducing social control.
- Unlinkings are often driven by and contribute to social inequalities: The loss of social support and capital through unlinkings can affect one's position in the social stratification system, reinforcing social inequalities.
Abstract
This article introduces the concept of “unlinked lives” and illustrates its significance for scholarship on the life course. There are many lessons to be learned about human interdependence by focusing not on relationships that are formed and then maintained, but instead on relationships that are lost or ended by choice or circumstance, such as through changes in institutional affiliations, social status and positions or places. Unlinked lives carry important social meanings, are embedded in complex social processes, and bring consequences for the wellbeing of individuals, families, and societies. To develop this concept, we put forward nine key propositions related to when and how unlinkings happen as processes, as well as some of the consequences of being unlinked as a status or outcome. The coupling of “unlinked lives” with “linked lives” offers a crucial avenue for advancing life course theories and research, integrating scholarship across multiple life periods and transitions, and bridging the two now-distinct traditions of intellectual inquiry on the life course and on social networks.