ABSTRACT
Drawing upon a broad range of literature, this chapter takes a critical view of both the concept and empirical reality of graduate employability as it relates to working-class undergraduates and graduates in England. It outlines the dominant policy-led approach wherein employability is typically seen to be an essentially supply-side issue. The chapter explores the tensions between the two distinct forms of justice claims in a more philosophical way through the lens of Nancy Fraser's theory of two-dimensional participatory justice. It argues that graduate employability needs to be seen, at least in part, as the sum of the differential between a student's financial investment in acquiring a degree and the monetary returns they may expect to see upon their investment through their labour market earning power. The chapter draws upon the work of Fraser and a range of other sources to argue that, working-class (under)graduates confront a number of economically rooted and culturally rooted inequalities in the competition for graduate employment.
