A Typology of Transition Trajectories

Abstract

There is an ongoing debate among youth sociologists on whether transition processes still take the form of traditional sequences or diverge from conventional patterns. Traditional transitions are generally described as smooth processes that follow institutionally predictable, linear pathways from school to work (Evans K, Heinz W. Becoming adults in England and Germany. Anglo-German Foundation, London, 1994). Young people may, however, diverge from linear trajectories by experiencing periods of unemployment, shifting between different employment statuses or by changing direction. The discussion centres on whether shifting transitions are caused by a desire to try alternative pathways or if structural conditions are forcing young people into precarious situations. In this chapter, TIES Survey is analyzed using an advance methodology called Latent Class Analysis and a typology is developed based on how respondents’ transitions proceeded after leaving school. Next using biographical interviews; the typology is elaborated and revised according to the motivations and experiences of respondents. The chapter shows that almost all of the respondents in this study were motivated to seek stability in the labour market and wanted to pursue institutionally defined “traditional pathways”, prompted by both labour market conditions and job insecurity. Personal experiences of instability motivated them to stick at a job once they had secured a permanent position. Lack of security dragged other respondents into shifting transitions, not out of choice but born of necessity.