Despite the benefits of social participation for individuals and communities, little is known about how social participation varies over the life course. Drawing upon data collected between 1957 and 2011 by the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (22,023 observations from a cohort of 6,627), this study provides four valuable results. One, I find evidence of five distinct social participation trajectories; the majority of which demonstrate social disengagement as individuals age. Two, these decreases were primarily attributable to declines in meeting friends and group exercise. Three, the activities most likely to predict being a part of more-desirable trajectories were cultural event attendance, voluntary group membership, and joining charity groups. Lastly, I find that seven different types of high school activities were each associated with greater social activity counts, decades later. In total, these results highlight systematic differences in social participation trajectories; and suggest that age-graded participation changes are highly dependent on the underlying social activities.
Anselm Strauss was interested in the sociology of work in every sense and used his grounded theory method to observe and analyze everything he encountered, including his own “medical work.” Drawing on the reflections of his students, this introduction briefly examines Strauss's everyday work mode using grounded theory. The eight articles in this special issue honor Strauss by using his theories and methods for studying varieties of work in very different settings. The final article in this collection provides selected statements from graduates who had the opportunity to study with Strauss. Their voices reveal how Anselm Strauss influenced their lives and work and speak for the many sociologists he trained.