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Dissonant futures : occupational trajectories, gender and class in contemporary municipal adult education in Sweden

Dahlstedt, Magnus ; Sandberg, Fredrik LU ; Fejes, Andreas and Olson, Maria (2018) In Journal of Education and Work 31(1). p.16-27
Abstract

The aim of this article is to problematize the ways class and gender are played out in adult students’ narratives about their occupational choice and future. Drawing on Beverly Skeggs, we analyse how students think about future occupations, what motivates them towards these and how they are able to form their future in relation to them. Taking on Sweden as a case, our results show that students’ narratives on their future occupations are classed as well as gendered. In their vision of future occupations, working-class students tend to focus on occupations helping and caring for others, while middle-class students tend to focus on work more as a means of fulfilling themselves as individuals. These differences are also gendered. Female... (More)

The aim of this article is to problematize the ways class and gender are played out in adult students’ narratives about their occupational choice and future. Drawing on Beverly Skeggs, we analyse how students think about future occupations, what motivates them towards these and how they are able to form their future in relation to them. Taking on Sweden as a case, our results show that students’ narratives on their future occupations are classed as well as gendered. In their vision of future occupations, working-class students tend to focus on occupations helping and caring for others, while middle-class students tend to focus on work more as a means of fulfilling themselves as individuals. These differences are also gendered. Female students are more likely than their male counterparts to picture their future occupations in relation to having children and a family. This tells us that in the female students’ narratives, there tends to be a strong focus on caring – for their families as well as in future occupations.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Adult education, adult students, caring, class, gender, respectability
in
Journal of Education and Work
volume
31
issue
1
pages
12 pages
publisher
Taylor & Francis
external identifiers
  • scopus:85035130568
ISSN
1363-9080
DOI
10.1080/13639080.2017.1400661
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
902cce6f-d61e-40f6-b5d4-539117eabf05
date added to LUP
2017-12-12 07:55:56
date last changed
2022-10-08 02:24:13
@article{902cce6f-d61e-40f6-b5d4-539117eabf05,
  abstract     = {{<p>The aim of this article is to problematize the ways class and gender are played out in adult students’ narratives about their occupational choice and future. Drawing on Beverly Skeggs, we analyse how students think about future occupations, what motivates them towards these and how they are able to form their future in relation to them. Taking on Sweden as a case, our results show that students’ narratives on their future occupations are classed as well as gendered. In their vision of future occupations, working-class students tend to focus on occupations helping and caring for others, while middle-class students tend to focus on work more as a means of fulfilling themselves as individuals. These differences are also gendered. Female students are more likely than their male counterparts to picture their future occupations in relation to having children and a family. This tells us that in the female students’ narratives, there tends to be a strong focus on caring – for their families as well as in future occupations.</p>}},
  author       = {{Dahlstedt, Magnus and Sandberg, Fredrik and Fejes, Andreas and Olson, Maria}},
  issn         = {{1363-9080}},
  keywords     = {{Adult education; adult students; caring; class; gender; respectability}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{16--27}},
  publisher    = {{Taylor & Francis}},
  series       = {{Journal of Education and Work}},
  title        = {{Dissonant futures : occupational trajectories, gender and class in contemporary municipal adult education in Sweden}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13639080.2017.1400661}},
  doi          = {{10.1080/13639080.2017.1400661}},
  volume       = {{31}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}