Aspiration and Capability to Aspire: How Do French Institutions Affect Socio-Occupational Groups?

Abstract

ABSTRACT How do workers in low-skilled jobs picture their futures? How are aspirations for career reorientation activated? What influence do institutions have on the objectives that individuals pursue? How do various socio-occupational groups approach and manage their future? What are the major differences between skilled and low-skilled workers? These are some of the questions raised after a series of reforms passed in France that aim to make all individuals the genuine agents of their professional lives and pathways rather than being the passive focus of training programmes and employability initiatives. This paper seeks to investigate these issues. Based on Sen's capability approach and the French linked and longitudinal Defis surveys, we contend that French low-skilled workers are more likely to aspire to career reorientation but have less capability to aspire.