Giovani e società dei lavori: la valenza esplicativa dei dualismi

The paper review the meanings that young people give to work through the relations between dualistic explanations. Starting from reflections focused on opposite distinctions, sociology has many times referred to the explicative valence that comes from the contraposition between an instrumental and an expressive orientation to work. This contribution wants to underline how, mostly after the latest changes in the world of labour and in the conditions of the young, the still valid interpretation based on this dualism could be progressively integrated with the explicative valence of other dualisms, the relevance of which is directly linked to the process of work’s meanings pluralization that is consolidating. The reflection proposed wants to make order of the results of a recent empiric research and define a general perspective of interpretation of relations among young people, work changes and meanings they give it.