The professional project of middle-classes youth: normative guidelines and insertion strategies

Abstract

From the economic and social transformations of recent decades, due to productive reorganization, and resulting in the flexibility and the precariousness of working conditions, changes the way whereby individuals plan their professional future. This article presents a discussion on the relation of the youth to the labour world, focusing on the construction of a professional project in the context of late modernity, characterized by the unpredictability and the individualization of life trajectory. It was aimed to research how the construction of professional project takes place, in its value dimensions and normative guidelines. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with nine university students from middle and upper social classes of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, belonging to different fields of study and looking for their first professional contract. The main results include the following normative guidelines: the search for "quality of life" and personal fulfillment at work; the expectation of professional growth and constant qualification, and the individualization of labour trajectories.