Education, the professions, and long life.

This article explores some of the consequences of a greatly extended life for certain aspects of education and for occupations requiring long educational preparation, namely the professions. Data illustrating the great change in length of life will be presented first, followed by some general remarks on the difficulties of assessing increased longevity as a causal variable in socio-cultural change. Longevity will be considered in its relationship to education during childhood, youth and mid-life, and to careers, the professions, and social mobility. The social consequences of the great increase in average length of life that has taken place in modern industrial societies during the past two centuries have not been adequately analyzed by social scientists. Inter-generational mobility is affected by long life. Like intragenerational mobility, this phenomenon may increase as a result of longer life expectancy.