Author, Institution: Ugnė Žalkauskaitė, Kaunas University of Technology
Science area, Field of Science: Social sciences, Sociology – 05S
The Doctoral Dissertation is available at the libraries of Kaunas University of Technology (K. Donelaičio St. 20, Kaunas) and Vytautas Magnus University (K. Donelaičio g. 52, Kaunas) and at the Lithuanian Social Research Centre (A. Goštauto g. 11, Vilnius).
Scientific Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rūta BRAZIENĖ (Kaunas University of Technology, Social Sciences, Sociology, 05S)
Dissertation Defence Board of Sociology Field of Science:
Prof. Dr. Vylius LEONAVIČIUS (Vytautas Magnus University, Social Sciences, Sociology, 05S) – Chairman;
Prof. Dr. Habil. Arvydas Virgilijus MATULIONIS (Lithuanian Social Research Centre, Social Sciences, Sociology, 05S);
Prof. Dr. Rūta MUKTUP VELA (Latvian Academy of Culture, Social Sciences, Sociology, 05S).
Prof. Dr. Jonas RUŠKUS (Vytautas Magnus University, Social Sciences, Education Science, 07S);
Annotation:
Disabled youth transition from the education system into the labour market is usually considered not only in the field of sociological researches but also in the context of the social policy. Moreover, the phenomenon of school-to-work transition of the disabled youth includes different institutional, structural, economical, ideological, etc. contexts. The aim of the dissertation is to explore the phenomenon of the school-to-work transition in Lithuania.
The research of this dissertation is based on the Systematic Grounded Theory (GT) as developed by A. Strauss and J. Corbin. The Field theory (1983) as developed by P. Bourdieu was used for the theoretical framing of empirical data.
The developed GT “(Self-)empowerment of the Disabled: you have to prove constantly that you can” allows to understand and explain the emergence of self-empowerment during the transition from the education system to the labour market of the disabled youth by using individual factors (education, health condition, professional dispositions, job searching strategies and professional experience) as well as the way external structures (external factors) act as structuring (restricting) or enabling factors affecting the school-to-work transition (the employment policy for disabled people, the structure of the labour market demands, the employers’ attitudes towards disability and people with disabilities and the working conditions of the disabled staff). The stigma of disability can be seen as an epiphenomenon in the analysis of the school-to-work transition which is incorporated into the young disabled people’s habitus and their tactics of disability disclosure. All of the above mentioned factors are determinants of the (self-)empowerment for young people with disabilities influencing the positive or negative outcomes of the transition from education to the labour market and the relevant positive or negative estimates, i.e. the position in the structure of the labour market which can be characterized by employing the concepts of “ability” and “disability” as well as by distinctive transition trajectories.
