Upplevelser av osäkerhet: En kvalitativ studie av globaliseringens effekter för ungas etablering på arbetsmarknad och familjebildning

Abstract

Globalization is described as processes of economic, social and political character and a tendency in the field has been to study these aspects of the phenomenon separately. Another common feature of previous studies is to relate to the field at a high abstraction level and talk about the effects and changes in general terms. Such studies of quantitative and statistical nature in which people are constituted as homogeneous groups hides the fact that the relationship between social attributes and context creates unique positions where the effects of globalization are diverse (Sprague, 2005, pp. 16 - 18). The purpose of this bachelor thesis is therefore to break with this entrance to the field and instead focus on a micro level perspective. By conducting a qualitative interview study guided by the globalization theory of the Globalife research team, which shows how structures at the macro level can be understood to affect the micro level, the aim is to reveal potential knowledge gaps within the field. By letting gender and class be guiding concepts the object of this thesis is to generate an in-depth understanding of how these processes can be interpreted and understood at the individual level, which contrasts the general understanding. In order to delimit a field with a global reach, the study was designed as a case study where the empirical material was collected through semi-structured interviews. The focus was further set to examine young adults' experience and perception of the labor market and how these ideas in turn affect their eventual family formation. The most striking findings of the study were the gendered distinction between the respondent’s perceptions as well as the shared notion of the Swedish welfare system's limitations when it comes to starting a family.