Inequality and 21-year-olds' negotiation of uncertain transitions to employment

A Bourdieusian approach

Dados Bibliográficos

ID12601481
AutoresJoseph Borlagdan (The University of Melbourne, autor correspondente)
Ano2015
Volume18
Fascículo7
Páginas839-854
Data de publicação2015-01-02
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Youth Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1367-6261 • E-ISSN: 1469-9680
EditoraTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13676261.2014.992327
OpenAlexW1981100822
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas17
Referências citadas47

Faced with uncertainty, how do young people navigate the transition from school to work? Applying Bourdieu's concept of habitus to the ‘fields’ of education and employment, I argue that past experience, family background and unequal access to economic, social and symbolic forms of capital differentiate their transitions. Drawing on the tenth wave of the Australian longitudinal Life Chances Study, we found that all of the twenty-five 21-year-olds interviewed expressed uncertainty when discussing their futures. However, those from high-income backgrounds with access to strong social, economic and cultural resources were better able to manage the risks arising from uncertainty than their counterparts from low-income backgrounds. The following article seeks to contribute to a more nuanced understanding of young people's experiences at age 21 through the application of Bourdieu's conceptual framework. The interviewees’ habitus and cultivation of varying forms of capital tend towards social reproduction, yet also reveal opportunities for those considered ‘disadvantaged’ to mobilise their cultural resources. Bourdieu's model of the field, and its component conceptual tools, provide an explanatory frame to make sense of the seemingly incoherent paths that young people trace between education and employment

Cultural capital · Cultural reproduction · Disadvantaged · Economic growth · Economics · Field (mathematics · Habitus · Identity (music · Inequality · Social capital · Social inequality · Social mobility · Social reproduction · Social science · Sociology · Symbolic capital · Gender Studies · Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Youth Education and Societal Dynamics