Student Dispositions and Permanence in Higher Education in Administration: A Biographical Analysis of Young People from LowIncome Backgrounds

Abstract

This article aims to understand how the dispositions of young people from low-income backgrounds (understood as peripheral areas) influence their permanence in Administration courses. To this end, the biographies of three students from low-income backgrounds in Rio Grande do Sul (RS) were examined. The participants' dispositional heritage was analyzed to identify inter-individual dispositions, such as moral flexibility, social apprehension, and social appropriation, as well as intra-individual dispositions, such as self-improvement, discipline, forward thinking, forward planning, and hard work. Self-improvement, social apprehension, social mimicry, discipline, flourishing, and forward thinking were particularly important in relation to remaining in higher education. Work emerges as a central element in the lives of those profiled, contributing to student permanence and the formation of their identities. Family influences permanence as well, enabling young people to reflect on their life trajectory and social origin and project possibilities for mobility and professional advancement through higher education. The research indicates that permanence plays a significant role in studies that seek to understand youth trajectories because they reveal feelings of belonging to and alienation from educational structures during academic experiences, unveiling material and symbolic conditions. Permanence should be understood as an instrument of transformation and constitution of the subject in the academic space. In order to continue studying, it is essential that the individual feels part of networks of relationships that reinforce a sense of belonging.