The Epistemological Ambivalence of Worker-citizenship

The working life transitions of young people and their relationship with the labour market in changing times have long been a topic of youth research. Work receives special attention, as it is traditionally intertwined with the social tasks of young people: youth is about making labour market choices and ‘becoming’ future worker-citizens. However, youth researchers have been concerned with how this social norm might now contradict the lives of young people. This article contributes to this discussion by introducing a new concept: the ‘epistemological ambivalence of worker-citizenship’. The concept is exemplified by four stories from a data set containing 28 interviews with young people aged 19–25 years. These stories depict how young people engage in complex, but active, negotiations on worker-citizenship from the perspective of its realities, ideals and rights. The concept demonstrates the problems that may arise if young people are expected to belong in society through a fundamentally ambivalent worker-citizenship.