Early School Leaving: Stigma und Diversität

The theoretical section of the article looks at the development of the social positioning of early school leavers over the last decades and argues that the deterioration in their situation cannot be attributed simply to the displacement process and restructuring of the work environment (for instance through globalisation), but that stigmatisation processes also play a significant role. It becomes clear that the social space, the professional playing field and the educational playing field are all battlefields on which those players with limited resources (cultural, economic and social capital) or an unsuitable habitus run a high risk of becoming and being stigmatised as losers. The second, empirical section of the article presents details of a recent qualitative study. Here, the information obtained from 25 narrative interviews with adolescents is used to construct six types of habitus which show the many different ways early school leavers deal with their situation. Experiences with stigma represent the common thread in all six types of habitus.