A Study on Career Consciousness of Young Non-elite

Focusing on the Effect of Failure on the Elementary Public Servant Employment Examination

Abstract

Recently, education to help students obtain the kind of occupation they desire has been actively carried out at institutions of higher education in Japan. However, this education has produced unfavorable consequences in the case of students who are unable to accomplish the intended objective, thereby creating differences in perception of employment among students in general. The main purpose of this paper is to clarify the process of consciousness formation on the part of students who fail the public servant employment examination——an entrance to the labor market——, as well as the impact　which the failure has on the students' subsequent formation of career consciousness, Most of all, with “how career consciousness is formed in a situation where a pursued goal is not attained” posed as a research question, analysis of career consciousness among non-elite who are at the threshold of the labor market was made on the basis of analysis of　independent behavior of an individual. Analysis was made of personal life histories of three males graduate of a vocational school for future public servants who experienced failure in a heavily educational background-oriented world and in an occupation race. A series of interviews was conducted with them along the way. The study makes it clear that among lower non-elite there is a tendency to form their career consciousness through the disconnection from the past, while looking ahead to the future with vague notions of “stability” and　“security” The study concludes that independent activities by lower non-elite are nullified in a vague, uncertain social structure created in their minds as a consequence of their failures. On the other hand, each enlightenment through such an activities is based to their career formation.