Is this a Way of Understanding Education–Work Relations?

Considering and illustrating the contribution of cultural perspectives to understanding education–work relations poses problems. We are faced with making sense of a relatively inchoate and fractured sub-field (called here ‘youth transitions’ research ² ), one whose boundaries are fluid and whose character is not wholly fixed. This does not necessarily mean that the study of youth transitions is underdeveloped. Rather, there are few theoretical sacred cows to observe and the empirical landscape is fast moving. The lack of objective certainty about what to include or exclude, and under which ordering principles to do so, carries unavoidable risks. On the other hand, it affords a certain luxury – a freer selection of anchor concepts and field structuring than might otherwise be the case.