GAINING PERSPECTIVE ON CHOICE AND FATE

The idea of epiphanies, turning points and critical biographical moments is a central analytic category of life history research in general, and of youth studies in particular. In this paper we explore how we have engaged with ideas of ‘fatefulness’ (Giddens 1991 Giddens, A. 1991. Modernity and Self Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age, Cambridge: Polity. [Google Scholar]) and biographical ‘choice’ in a longitudinal qualitative...