Education as a capability for young adults’ life trajectories: some evidence from an Italian case study

Education still represents a main determinant in social stratification, particularly when hybridizing itself with other generative factors (like gender, ethnicity, age, access to rights), thus reflecting a transversal ‘classless’ dimension of contemporary inequality (Pakulsky, 2007), as well as contributing to the resistance of typical ‘class’ factors by reproducing social differences in occupational conditions and wealth (Wright, 1985; 2007). Indeed, the post-Fordist transition has led to significant changes, not only in generative factors of social differentiation, but also in how the individual educational investment is rewarded with effective consequences especially in life trajectories for young adults (Gosetti, 2004; Lo Verde, 2005; Poli, 2008). From this perspective, the essay adopts the Senian Capability Approach (Nussbaum, 2000; Sen, 1973; 1999) in an educational perspective, evaluating how nowadays education affects young adults’ life trajectories, leading to a different conception of education as a value in itself, as well as a means, or conversion factor, meaning heterogeneous results in terms of individual wellbeing and doing. Analyzing a quantitative case study realized in Genoa, Italy, this paper aims to observe the effects of educational path on achievement of individual wellbeing for a sample of young adults in a typical context of a flexible labour market (Poli, Benasso, Capozzi, & Vergani, 2013).