Changing youth life course. Decision-making process in times of discontinuity.
Author: Ralph Chan, ralph.a.chan@gmail.com
Department: Sociology
University: University of Vienna, Austria
Supervisor: Yuri Kazepov and Michael Williamson
Year of completion: In progress
Language of dissertation: English
Keywords:
Youth
, Education
, Urban
, Social Policy
Areas of Research:
Youth
, Education
, Comparative Sociology
Abstract
Life courses of youths have changed over the past decades. In consequence, youths are confronted with new social risks and a new configuration of life stages nowadays. These aspects have a big impact on the individual life projects and influence the decision-making process, for instance, on educational choices. Career decision-making is considered as turning point or critical moment that might have an important impact in the life course and identity. Research in Austria on the life course, on youth and their educational choices from a sociological perspective remains limited. With a research design, that combines secondary quantitative and qualitative data, it can help to get a broader understanding of the contextual factors. Furthermore, it is planned to conduct semi-structured interviews with youths and significant others to understand the relevant aspects in the decision-making process. As a last step, I am planning to conduct a group discussion. The overall objective of this PhD thesis is to provide an understanding of relevant aspects how they influence the decision-making process of youths.
