Opposed to universalism is the particularist view, which emphasizes the uniqueness of every human being and the features of life cycle development special to each cohort—- that is, each set of people born in a given period within the same society. There is much to be said for such a view. No two human beings are exactly alike; even twins have different fingerprints. Not only do individuals vary, but there are differences among societies and among cohorts in the same society.
Preoccupation with the particularist view, however, limits analysis of the questions pursued in this book because it is relatively devoid of theoretical content. It warns us that each individual is different, but awareness of differences alone does not provide a general guide to understanding behavior. The economic point of view attempts to provide such understanding. It assumes that people are basically alike in the sense that they share similar drives and goals. If we observe different cohorts, or different groups within the same cohort behaving differently, economic theory suggests where to look for explanations. Such suggestions are not always helpful because economic theory is far from perfect, but it does provide a systematic framework for analyzing behavior.