Professional Education in the Biographies of Youth: Narratives of the Self-Employed and Employees for Hire
Abstract
The article focuses on professional education in the biographies of young people aged 18-35. Based on 66 in-depth interviews about growing up, interpretation of generations, sustainability and initiative, conclusions are drawn about differences in the narrative about the place and meaning of professional education in the lives of young people of two types of employment (wage employment and self-employment).
By combining methods of biographical analysis and open coding, the results were obtained confirming the growing unpredictability of the career trajectories of young people. The biographies of self-employed youth are characterized by the category of “disappointment” when building a career trajectory. At the same time, for specialists working for hire, the attitude towards the educational stage in biographies was revealed as a “background” for more significant activities during this period. The data show a narrative about the higher agency of self-employed youth in choosing an educational vector and a greater emphasis on the connection with dynastic professional history for the narratives of employees working for hire. Both categories of workers continue their education after receiving a diploma, but for the self-employed, its source is autodidactics, and for employees working for hire, it is the place of work. As for the meaning of education, the self-employed point to the importance of acquiring professional skills, while employees working for hire understand education as a pass to adulthood.
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