Jérémy ALFONSI

Thesis abstract

Youth personal networks : forms of sociability and inequalities in the life course

This thesis proposes to understand the biographical trajectories of young French people according to the influence of their personal relationships. We expose the contexts of life and the different modes of sociability that shape networks with unequal forms and effects on destinies.
At the entrance of adult life, individuals are invited to invest the major roles that will characterize their positions in the social world. How are personal relationships mobilized on these occasions ? Who intervene precisely ? What resources and constraints do they offer ? To answer these questions, we interviewed at length about thirty young adults with contrasted social origins living in Montpellier. Together, we have retraced more than 200 major sequences that have punctuated their life course, in order to reveal the episodes in which their relations played a decisive role. We have also reconstituted with them the circle of close bonds which have accompanied them in the main dimensions of their social life. The analysis of the characteristics of nearly 400 relationships, their history and the contours of the personal networks they form, has enabled us to reveal very heterogeneous entourage, able to constrain the trajectories or to open sometimes to new horizons. Lastly, the very precise examination of sociability practices revealed cultural differences that contribute to the development of networks with such distinct forms and effects. Thereby, this research allows to better understand how relational supports unequally sustain the evolution of individuals in the social world.

Keywords  : youth, social networks, lifecourse, friendship, social inequalities

Main scientific areas of research

• Social and professional integration of young people, entrepreneurship
• Life course, status passage sequences, articulations between life contexts
• Social networks, types of relationships, forms of sociability
• Processes of socialization
• The individual : autonomy and responsibility, vulnerabilities, social inequalities

Experiences and Research activities

• Research engineer at CNRS : from July to December 2018
  affiliated to the “Institute of Labour Economics and Industrial Sociology” (LEST – UMR 7317) in Aix-en-Provence
  amember of the research team “Youth representations of labour : social dynamics, public policy and individual experience in France and Quebec”
• Presentation in an international conference : June 2016
  2nd European Conference on Social Networks, in Paris. “The role of personal network in the construction of identity at the entrance into adulthood” (in English)
• Individual contractor in sociology  : 2014
  conduct of sociological interviews, analysis and report writing for the consulting firm “Ideel” in Montpellier, and the National Union of Local Missions (UNML - state support for young people) in Paris
• Temporary employee at CNRS  : March 2013
  affiliated to the “Institute of Labour Economics and Industrial Sociology” (LEST – UMR 7317) in Aix-en-Provence
  encoding quantitative data for the ANR research project “BIPAJE : The biographical bifurcation at the heart of the school to work transition process : a qualitative and quantitative approach in three societal contexts, France, Quebec and Argentina”

Academic qualifications

• Ph.D in Sociology, Aix-Marseille University, May 2018
  thesis presented under the supervision of Claire Bidart : “Youth personal networks : forms of sociability and inequalities in the lifecourse”

Languages

• French : first language
• English : good command
• Informatics applied to social sciences : SPSS, Excel, Nvivo

Publications

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