Aligning Ambitions and Competing Ideologies: The Future Plans of the Youth of Gautreaux Two

Melody L. Boyd, Temple University
Kimberly Goyette, Temple University

Research finds that youths who are able to align their educational and occupational ambitions are better able to realize both. We explore the alignment of educational, occupational, and family ambitions among a group of youths who may be considered socially marginalized, those who have grown up in urban housing developments. We use qualitative data from the Gautreaux Two Program in Chicago. Our sample includes in-depth qualitative interviews with 93 children in 57 of the families included in the study. Our results show how competing ideologies of success for inner-city children lead to misaligned aspirations and how information about higher education and occupations from families, peers, and schools mediates this process.