Systemic and Reflexive: Foundations of Cumulative Dis/Advantage and Life-Course Processes

Cumulative dis/advantage has been defined as the systemic tendency for interindividual divergence in a given characteristic to increase with the passage of time. Over recent decades, evidence supporting cumulative dis/advantage (CDA) as a cohort-based process that produces inequalities on a range of life-course outcomes has steadily increased. This paper reviews this growing body of work, grounding the discussion in CDA’s foundation as a general...