Introduction: Development, Young People, and the Social Production of Aspirations

Abstract

In this editorial introduction to the Special Issue Youth, Aspirations and the Life Course: Development and the social production of aspirations in young people’s lives, we put the work presented in this collection in conversation with the wider literature on development, youth and aspirations. Aspiration we define as an orientation towards a desired future. We elaborate on our conceptualisation of aspirations as socially produced and reflect on the methodological challenges in researching young people’s aspirations in development. While mindful of the various critiques of aspiration research we argue that aspirations constitute fertile terrain for theorising the temporal dynamics of being young and growing up in contexts of development.

Precarity and the question of children’s relationalities

“…Factoring in how these relationalities co-exist with neoliberal efforts to improve these lives would allow us to work with how these get leveraged by marginal children to critically navigate, stay under the radar as well as disrupt its workings. Research focused on contemporary circuits of capitalist accumulation in the lives of marginal children discuss how drastic disinvestments in social welfare coexist with racialized efforts to improve these lives within neoliberalism's gratuitous assertions around children's "futurity" (Balagopalan, 2021;Huijismans et al, 2021;Gillian-Peterson, 2015;Katz, 2010;Newberry et al, 2020). In this highly fraught landscape, transnational economic processes aggregate, and interlock to produce certain populations as a surplus.…”

Rural Aspirations: Reflections for Development Planning, Design and Localized Effects

“…The variety of theoretical and disciplinary entry points covered within this Special Issue share a common basic definition of aspirations as desired futures-much in line with Huijsmans et al (2020). These desired futures are not only shaped by individual preferences and life goals but are distinctly moderated by social and institutional circumstances (Hart 2015).…”

“…We argue that through this broader view of aspirations, it may be possible to overcome Huijsmans et al (2020)'s "critique of development interventions" attempt to raise aspirations in efforts to promote progress. Frye (2019) also argues that the Fig.…”

Not All About Farming: Understanding Aspirations Can Challenge Assumptions About Rural Development

“…It is argued that aspirations moderate responses to incentive structures and thereby influence choices among potential options Verkaart et al 2018). Yet, aspirations are not purely shaped by individual desires (Huijsmans et al 2020). Social pressures, norms and expectations also play a role in their formation and expression (Bennike et al 2020;Crossland et al 2021).…”