ABSTRACT
The speed and direction of each individual’s life path is first set within the family of origin in childhood. This chapter focuses on families of relatively modest social standing: small entrepreneurs and workers in the provinces and the capital. Family resources played a crucial role equally in conceiving and in achieving individual life projects. Some were directly instigated by family; for others, family was the source of inspiration. Family resources played a crucial role equally in conceiving and in achieving individual life projects. The essential role of family solidarity among less educated social groups is as a safeguard against social and economic marginalization. In any family network the ties of solidarity create both potential opportunities and potential constraints for its members. The power of family ties only becomes positively enabling when the younger generation can find, in the openings provided through family resources, a sense of personal discovery, so that it can turn these chances into its own.
