Vital Life Experiences and Future Aspirations of Second-Generation Youth Mexican Immigrants in US. Vital Chances from Unequal Background

The aim of this research is to identify the vital life experiences (vital chances) that define their access or not access to higher education of Second-Generation Mexican immigrants in the United States. This includes analyzing how their biographies, social and cultural contexts, family backgrounds and the socioeconomic disadvantages impact their aspirations for the future. Due to the fact Second-Generation are considered as immigrants, even though they were born in the United States, they are faced with different social and structural inequalities hard to overcome as a result of this kind of exclusion. In this research, it is important to understand what kind of discrimination, segregation and barriers may be limiting their capability to aspire and how these challenges can lead to feelings of frustration, failure, or guilt when their aspirations are not realized or were frustrated.

Method.- Life Story (Bertaux, 1997) and Course Life (Giele & Elder, 1998) methods are used for collecting and data analysis. The analytical framework involves three temporalities: 1) family and migratory background; 2) current status and conditions; and 3) future aspirations capabilities. The theoretical framework used is the capabilities approach (Sen, 2005; Appadurai, 2004) from the perspective of social inequalities (Dubet, 2023, 2011; Therborn, 2013).

First findings.- Vital chances are strongly intertwined to integration processes; 2) parent’s conceptions of education impact in scholar trajectory and 3) school environment at elementary levels generates or obstructs vital opportunities in the future.

Importance.- Studying the experiences of Second Generation Mexican immigrants who have successfully entered tertiary education can provide valuable role models and inspiration for other young people facing similar social conditions, who aspire to pursue higher education in the US. Furthermore, findings will contribute to the conceptualization of future aspirations in post-migration contexts and offer insights on what agency and empowerment capabilities mean within disadvantageous conditions.