The "youth" of university students built from different class positions. New manifestations of inequalities in the educational field

Abstract

In this paper, we have situated our argument on the evidence of persistant inequality in educational opportunities in higher education and the process of delaying economic independence. We aimed to identify the conditions of recognition of a sup- RESÚMENES 195 posed «youth identity» in relation to the students’ higher education estrategies. We have described how being a «young adult» jointly «a university student» means (responds to a «social essence») differently to different social positions.We have found a smaller identification with the «youth» category in working-class students, who feel in debt with their families because of their economic dependence. On the contrary, upper middle-class and middle-class with cultural capital families show a predisposition to assume the «youth identity» in a more individualistic way because of their supposed educational project. We consider this phenomenon as a new and subtle mecanism of social diferentiation in educational field, considering it is on the base of the construction of the different educational preferences in higher education that statistics show, and of another conducts in academic career too.