As seen in the first part of the paper, research in social science has shown that occupational aspirations among disadvantaged young people are higher than the political discourse around lack of aspirations would suggest. However, those young people face classed, gendered and raced constraints for achieving their competitive economic aspirations. From a capabilities approach perspective this raises issues about imagin- ing and achieving a future somebody has reason to value: With regards to imagination, a narrow discourse of recognised aspirations neglects the instrumental value for achieving a valued future which goes far be- yond one’s expression of occupational aspirations. Exploring the aspiration narrative of Maria has enabled to broaden thinking about aspirations as valued futures beyond occupational aspirations and showed how her narrative of being a family person positioned her in relation to the available discourse of what a good mother is. In terms of achieving a future she values, making sense of her narrative provided Maria with a source of agency and control over her life while looking at the actual opportunities and experiences showed how her decisions were framed by social structures. Highlighting the contradictions within her pathway towards achieving a valuable future also showed, despite her success in the course and her first year at uni- versity, how vulnerable those occupational aspirations are in terms of achieving them as well as in terms of making sense of their instrumental value.
Finally, such an individualised view on aspirations needs to be put into a macroeconomic perspective of social justice: Given the high levels of income inequalities in England and the political focus on competitive economic aspirations, one needs to ask whether there exists a valuable future for all; e.g. in the way of Pau- lo Freire’s notion of dehumanisation which highlights the need of any approach to social justice to over- come the mere transformation of making the oppressed the new oppressors. Essential for this understand- ing is Freire's (1996:26) notion that dehumanisation affects both, the oppressed as well as the oppressors or in terms of income inequalities the poor and the rich. “Dehumanization, which marks not only those whose humanity has been stolen, but also (though in a different way) those who have stolen it, is a distortion of the vocation of becoming more fully human.”
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