Genesis of life course conception in Russian and foreign science

Why are some people successful and others are not, if both of them have the same resources? What factors (internal or external) condition the life course? Is the achievement of personal success a result of individual efforts or the influence of socio-cultural factors? Are an individual’s desires the result of his/her own beliefs, or is it a social construct inflicted to him/her by social norms? The life course conception tries to answer all these questions, using the knowledge from philosophy, psychology, anthropology, sociology. The author of the article proves the necessity of incorporating the term “life course” in the scientific sociological literature, because of the ambiguity of its interpretation by scientists that makes it difficult to study the problem. The consideration of life course concept is based on the time, space, historical, socio-cultural conditions, which contains life paths, events, transitions, turning points, the age of the individual development’ stages, the change of social status-role, taking place under the influence of external and internal factors. Age transitions, which appropriate to regular “schedule”, are traditionally approved by public opinion and vice versa deviations in this process are associated with lack of success. In the article the author focuses on the features of the development of the orphans’ life trajectories, based on Russian and foreign sociological research under the influence of external factors, such as education. The author also substantiates the proposition that the lack of a complete family, frequent changes of schools, financial difficulties, lack of proper control leads to academic failure; inequality in education, employment, and ultimately, to the social exclusion of orphans.