Possible selves in a transforming economy: upwardly mobile working-class masculinities, service work and negotiated aspirations in Australia

The relationship between working-class masculinities and industrial (and post-industrial) employment has been of sustained interest to sociologists for the last 40 years. This article draws on recent research examining the experiences of upwardly mobile working-class young men navigating casual employment within an urban part of Australia adapting to post-industrialisation. In presenting three longitudinal case studies, the theoretical frameworks of selfhood, possible selves and imagined futures are used to understand how service sector employment contributes to the development of aspirations during the transition beyond compulsory schooling. The focus is on how service employment informed the young men’s lives, aspirations and their sense of self. An argument is presented which articulates how, to varying extents, this service work is where the participants both accrue value and become valued