Conference Program

Young people today are confronted not only with existential challenges such as the climate crisis and a war in Europe. Income inequality in Western countries is also increasing, and the meritocratic promise of a stable, lifelong career is far from being consistently fulfilled. Research shows that the everyday struggles of young people are also closely linked to their social position (Threadgold, 2018). But how do young people locate themselves in the social world and navigate in stratified social fields, such as the educational or the occupational field? How do they develop a sense of position (Bourdieu, 1987) and how does it shape their experiences in everyday life?

Based on an ethnography and interview study with young people (16-29 years) in the city of Berlin, Germany, I show how experiences of social inequality in youth’ everyday lives are interlinked with gender, ethnicity, religion and other forms of inequality in forming their sense of position. The justifications young people provide for deviating from educational aspirations during transitions, the ways in which moments of crisis are managed, and how experiences of discrimination and violence are dealt with all demonstrate that everyday life is the key site in which a sense of one’s own position within society is formed. By applying an open relational and intersectional lens, I can work out affective, spatial and temporal dimensions of social inequality in young people’s everyday lives that form their sense of belonging and of place as classed, racialised and gendered selves. A feeling for society and its power relations becomes especially apparent in affective, but also spatial dimensions. Further, the underlying sense is externalised in practices, symbolic boundaries and meaning making. The findings illustrate how class-based and other social inequalities shape individuals’ orientations and actions even before they enter the labour market, and they help to improve our understanding of complex and enduring patterns of social inequality such as ethno-social segregation or the educational success of the middle classes.