Libro de Actas final_2

GT 13 GRUPO DE TRABAJO DE SOCIOLOGÍA DE LA EDUCACIÓN
qualifications, despite the fact that access to higher education is still characterised by a social super-selectivity (Bourdieu
& Passeron, 1964) that can be seen in the entrance and also takes place inside the university.
Furthermore, the profile of graduates in Portugal is mainly female (53,4%), in several areas of knowledge (DGEEC/
MEC, 2011), despite methods of access to employment, career development and cultural patterns associated with
the organization, continues to be dominated by male rationality and patriarchy order (Marques & Moreira, 2011a).
Nevertheless, it is possible to verify high selectivity relative to education choices, for which feminine preferences explain,
in great measure, the sexual replication of the social work division. The predominance of gender stereotypes, based on a
process of “naturalization” of gender roles (Bourdieu, 1999) contributes towards deepening the diversified and unequally
valued presence of education paths in function of gender. In regards to this subject, some authors talk about the “double
effect of gender discrimination” (Cruz & Cruzeiro, 1995) or the “bad choices” (Grácio, 1997) made by women, due to the
fact that their options focus on courses with a literary and humanist nature or due to their greater difficulty in accessing
work and in exercising professions with greater power and social prestige (Marques & Moreira, 2011a).
In this paper we intend to examine to which point the focus on entrepreneurial potential placed in the social and gender
inequalities among university graduates is inscribed in the logic of reproduction and validation of social inequalities in
the framework of higher education policies. For that, we use the concept of entrepreneurial potential in a broader sense, to
mean someone who thought or intended in any moment of its academic path to start a business or follow an autonomous
career. This doesn’t mean that he or she has had an effective entrepreneurial experience. Thus, we assume that this
construct is social and structural embedded in the social relations (Granovetter, 1985).
Our approach, however, presents entrepreneurial potential based on Bourdieu’s concept of habitus (1978, 1979), with
its “dynamic” and “relational” nature, reflecting individual existence conditions and social class. In this sense, the
entrepreneurial potential is considered to be multi-dimensional and may be influenced not only by symbolic-cultural
configurations (cultural values and symbolic representations) but also by social capital, in particular due to the objective
socio-professional and educational conditions that define the class structures of the family (occupational work system with
different types of capital). Adopting this theoretical approach, we built an analytical model of entrepreneurial potential
which, in very broad terms, highlights: i) the relations between the socio-demographic variables of the social capital
(social origin of the family) of the graduates, ii) connecting them to other factors that explain social inequalities, such as
the education field and the gender of the graduates.
To illustrate some of these issues, we will use the results from the research “The Entrepreneurial Potentials at the University
of Minho” 4 . Hence, we will use information gathered both in quantitative and qualitative approaches that result from two
distinct stages of this research; firstly, from an online survey administered to 283 graduates and in-depth interviews with
8 graduates from different scientific areas who finished the course between 2002 and 2008. Our purpose is to examine the
influence of social capital, gender on the dispositions of graduates related to entrepreneurial activity; secondly, we will
present some data from in-depth interviews, with the aim to highlight the subjective dimension of social reality, bringing
out the richness of meanings that graduates associate to entrepreneurship/self-employment as a career option.
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1. Entrepreneurship and academic support
The substantial increase of the unemployment rate among higher education graduates presents new and important
challenges to the University in regards to the employability of its students, demanding not only a change in its relations to
the labour market, but also the adoption of new educational approaches that increasingly involve the offer of continuous
training, as well as the creation of structures to support professional insertion and the promotion of entrepreneurship or
creation of self-employment or personal businesses, among others.
At this level, several challenges are put to institutional stakeholders, namely: i) stimulating culture and competences
for entrepreneurship by means of the articulation between the educational system and its surroundings; ii), bringing
together science and economy and encouraging business innovation and competitiveness among business ventures (e.g.,
integration in the global knowledge networks, incentive to research and sciences orientated for the generation of economic
value and development of human resources; iii) development of a favourable ecosystem for entrepreneurial activities
(e.g., encouragement to graduate entrepreneurship, to social entrepreneurship, to young entrepreneurship and to creativity
in the economy; promotion of entrepreneurial mindset and intra-entrepreneurship, etc.), among others.
The need of improving entrepreneurial and innovation capacities of European populations deserved special attention in three
flagship initiatives of the current Europe 2020 strategy for employment and sustainable growth. This agenda reinforces the
need for a policy integrated in the educational system, based on the enhancing of employability through lifelong learning,
4 This paper is part of the research project “The Entrepreneurial Potentials at the University of Minho”, in which it was intended, firstly, to address
the shortcomings of existing empirical studies on the topic of entrepreneurship, through a research of the entrepreneurial potentials of higher education
graduates; and secondly, to understand the important role of higher education in developing knowledge and skills that influence the manner in which
they shape the processes of professional transition. For that, the research had the following goals: i) to assess the predisposition for entrepreneurship
among graduates, ii) to analyze possible heterogeneity in transitions among young graduates from different courses/ scientific fields and genders; iii) to
encounter the characteristics of potential entrepreneurs, iii) to analyze the perceptions of graduates about obstacles, difficulties and critical factors in the
entrepreneurship process; iv) and to assess the degree of adequacy of graduate and post-graduate courses to entrepreneurship.
CRISIS Y CAMBIO: PROPUESTAS DESDE LA SOCIOLOGÍA
XI Congreso Español de Sociología (FES)