ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book describes the system of occupationally relevant credentials that assume significance in the lives of young Britons. Societies and their cultural systems provide rough scripts and casts of characters whose interactions influence the development and behavior of other players in the drama of life. The book provides evidence of the significance of a society's structure and normative definitions in giving shape to one part of the life course. It examines closely a major period of life course transition, the move from adolescence to adulthood. Processes of social mobility exhibited during this major period of life transition are the central substantive focus of the analysis. The empirical research examines that transition in Great Britain. The great majority of young people in both societies shift from fulltime schooling to full-time participation in the labor force at some time during the late teens.
