Rural youth and their trajectories in social mobility formal structures in the state of Jalisco, México
Keywords:
Rural Youth, Social Mobility, Ruralities, Socialities, Educational Trajectories, Work Trajectories.Abstract
The article is a product of a research work carried out during 2011 and 2012 about the training and work trajectories of rural youth in the Ciénega region at the state of Jalisco, Mexico. The general intention of the study was to analyze the alternatives and strategies of training, employment and job placement that young people put into action in a rural context, and to investigate their meanings and the effects that these trajectories can have in terms of social mobility. The ethnographic method was used through in-depth interviews with 27 young people from three different locations in the region, and participant observation, with the intention of recovering their life stories and reconstructing their educational and occupational trajectories.
In this article we present the results of these trajectories, which highlight features such as the lengthening and fragmentation of journeys, a nearly start in work, a diversification of occupations and a higher level of education (albeit paused), suggesting combination of periods of training, work, marriage and paternity / maternity without being subject to the linear transitions that had been established in the passage to adulthood, although having as a priority reference a better job placement.
It is identified that these characteristics are prolonging the traditional social time of youth, in addition to transforming patterns of participation in each social area (school, work, domestic) revitalizing the current rural world.
