Social Capital Key for Successful School-to-Work Transitions? Analyzing Migrant Youths’ Trajectories and Social Networks

Abstract

Data show that the offspring of migrant labourers (the so-called ‘guest workers’) from the former Yugoslavia and Turkey have problems with educational advancement and are over-represented in low-income jobs in Austria. In this chapter, we examine some of the factors that might explain this problematic situation. Building on social-capital theory, we analyse qualitative interviews with second-generation migrants in Vienna. The outcomes show how different social and institutional agents in the lifeworld of migrant youth affect their chances and choices. We argue that even ‘bad’ choices, such as leaving school early to enter the labour market, can be understood as reasonable strategies, once the context in which they are developed is taken into account. The analysis thus shows that, in order to improve the social situation and mobility of migrants’ children, attention should be directed at the pervasive discriminatory contextual factors rather than focusing on the alleged negative characteristics of migrant youth themselves.