Shaped by place: young people’s decisions about education, training and work

Abstract

This article explores the ways in which young people’s decisions about post-compulsory education, training and employment are shaped by place, drawing on case study evidence from three deprived neighbourhoods in England. It discusses the way in which place-based social networks and attachment to place influence individuals’ outlooks and how they interpret and act on the opportunities they see. While such networks and place attachment can be a source of strength in facilitating access to opportunities, they can also be a source of weakness in acting to constrain individuals to familiar choices and locations. In this way, ‘subjective’ geographies of opportunity may be much more limited than ‘objective’ geographies of opportunity. Hence it is important for policy to recognise the importance of ‘bounded horizons’.