When Labour Exclusion Reinforces the Gender System: Gender Identity and Gender Representations among Young Unemployed People

By articulating social psychology and gender sociology backgrounds, this paper analyses the way the gender system is activated and legitimated in contexts characterized by exclusion from the job market. Our study, conducted with a sample of young people excluded from the labour market, shows that the threat of exclusion through unemployment reinforces the legitimacy which boys are willing to grant to gender stereotypes. Our results also point out that the legitimacy acquired by boys through gender stereotypes and their feelings of closeness with masculine norms contribute to enhance their self-esteem. For girls, in contrast, conformity with gender norms does not constitute a positive resource for identity. This study demonstrates that the gender system can be an instrument on which men can rely to promote themselves when they feel degraded in other social ways. Thus, it emphasizes the interdependent boundaries between the various systems of domination structuring our society. It also reminds us of the necessity to take all these social systems domination into account in our struggle against sexism.