Accounts of Occupational Prestige in the Discursive Context of the Knowledge Economy

Ulpukka Isopahkala-Bouret () and Päivi Siivonen ()
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Ulpukka Isopahkala-Bouret: University of Turku
Päivi Siivonen: University of Turku

Chapter Chapter 11 in Higher Education and Work in the Knowledge Economy, 2025, pp 247-271 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract In the competitive knowledge economy, not all higher education graduates enjoy an equal position. In this chapter, we focus on graduates with relatively low-prestige degrees and investigate their social positioning in the labour market. Particularly, in systems of higher education with strong egalitarian traditions, such as that of Finland, it is interesting to examine how the occupational prestige and social hierarchies are constructed among graduates. The chapter investigates how graduates with the UAS bachelor’s degrees negotiate their relative positions in the labour market when faced with the relative lack of prestige. Data consist of 15 interviews collected in 2019 from business graduates of two UASs in Finland. The findings demonstrate how the graduates employ different narrative practices to present themselves as valuable employees and to valorise their own job positions (Duemmler et al., Vocations and Learning 13:369–388, 2020). They, for example, emphasise the practical expertise, work-readiness and potential for learning. Moreover, they stress how their work fits with what they value in life. The study contributes to current, critical discussions about the social inequalities in graduate work and the (failed) promise of higher education.

Keywords: Low-prestige degrees; Occupational prestige; Labour market positioning; Overqualification; Social hierarchies; Finland (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-031-80618-6_11

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-80618-6_11

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