Conference Program

In a social world that no longer remains stable even within the lifespan of a single individual (Rosa 2015), constructing one’s identity has become an existential “challenge-trial” (épreuve) (Martuccelli 2017). Individuals – during the conclusion of formal socialization – enter in “adult” life burdened by heavy biographical expectations. The mandate to be authentic, singular, and unique (Reckwitz 2025) has become a norm operating along a contradictory track: the valorization of what is durable versus the inevitable condition of flexibility (Boltanski & Chiapello 2014). In a context where the risk of “not being seen” is constant, recognition is granted only if one’s authenticity becomes performative. In this manner, the biographical project – modulating flexibility and durability – becomes the primary empirical referent of a successful individual.

This performative competition (Rosa 2017) has been embraced by the Italian school system, which integrates the value of the “particular” into a system traditionally rooted in the “general”. Consequently, bureaucracy itself becomes singularized, altering the mandate of public schooling. This opening manifests in new initiatives of compulsion toward identity and biographical performance, most notably “Il Mio Capolavoro” (My Masterpiece) – a space where students are expected to testify to the “state of the art” of their own singularization. Within a shift from rational-task-based-evaluation to affective-person-based-validation, the student exists only if they are capable of performing a solid identity and projecting themselves into a future. The “tyranny of flexibility” is thus reframed as an occasion for individuation, a challenge that must be successfully overcome.

Biographical compulsion initiatives act as existential trials-challenges that mark new forms of inequality. Through a new register of validation, the “capacity to aspire” (Appadurai 2007) is structured around recognizing the self’s performativity. As a result, those “poor in singularization” – subjects eclipsed by competition – see their biographical opportunities diminish. While the Schumpeterian entrepreneur emerges as the new model of subjectivation (Sennett 2007), vital forms of equality are being restructured and tolerable inequalities redefined (Rosanvallon 2013).

Adopting an approach rooted in analytical dualism, this study drew on the subjective accounts of 140 students from various educational tracks, collected via surveys and semi-structured interviews. By questioning structures through the lens of experience (Martuccelli 2017), a profound contradiction emerges. This tension pits a socialization inspired by modern durability against the imperative to remain flexible in the face of precarity.

In this framework, the expectation of the singularized subject is presented as an opportunity, yet it functions as a new form of biographical compulsion. This contribution explores how “singularized privilege” is constructed through an accumulation of experiences that validates the individual as an authentic and unique subject. By reproducing and legitimizing late-modern inequality patterns, this privilege profoundly reshapes the capacity to aspire. Consequently, the future becomes a competitive asset, accessible only through the continuous performance of one’s own singularity.