Success stories: Young people's aspirations and the politics of class in post-boom Silicon Valley.
Item
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Title
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Success stories: Young people's aspirations and the politics of class in post-boom Silicon Valley.
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Identifier
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AAI3231991
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identifier
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3231991
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Creator
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Davidson, Elsa.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Vincent Crapanzano
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Date
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2006
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Anthropology, Cultural | American Studies
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Abstract
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This dissertation explores processes of social reproduction and class identification among young people in Silicon Valley. It examines how working and middle class youth defined themselves and their aspirations in relation to dominant representations of local techno-entrepreneurial success, social practices and values, and daily socio-economic, educational, familial, and political realities. As such, I interpret young people's aspirations and identities in relation to a regional educational politics focused on fostering techno-entrepreneurial skills and values in poor youth, contrasting neo-liberal models of selfhood targeting working and middle class youth, and divergent experiences of the tech boom and bust.;Low-income youth of color who participated in this study negotiated social and ideological contradictions spawned by the combination of formal educational exposure to techno-entrepreneurial practices and values and a highly regulated educational and urban environment focused on the management of "at-risk" youth. I argue that such contradictions in fact encouraged aspirations among Latino youth in particular that reflected a neo-liberal model of selfhood stressing personalized risk-management and flexibility. However, many of these youth found uninspiring the (neo-liberal) educational celebration of individual advancement within the regional information economy to which they were exposed at school. Such forms of identification were often expressed in terms of an affinity for community-oriented public sector work and military service.;In contrast, middle class youth, whose school and community environment encouraged freedom, creativity, intense academic competition and 'well-roundedness', felt obligated to display self-cultivation and authenticity. I maintain that this pragmatic self-marketing, related to social and economic pressures intensified by the tech bust and eroding middle class security, reflects a particular kind of neo-liberal subject-ideal, one that provoked feelings of stress and entrapment within a "rat race" for many such students.;In linking these findings to young people's broader social, cultural, and political-economic contexts, this study ultimately illuminates the reinforcement of class privilege within the regional information economy and the flexibility of neo-liberal models of citizenship promoted through public schooling (Mitchell 2003). It also highlights the role of social contradiction in the crafting of youth and adult identities that do not entirely reflect hegemonic political-economic and social conditions.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
