In the article we present research results about the social position of student youth obtained in 2008 on a sample of students from four universities in Slovenia (UL, UM, UP and UNG). We were interested in how the students are handling the challenges and risks of contemporary society, how they are equipped for the transition to adulthood or broader, and the degree to which students in today's postmodern society are still the avant-garde of social progress. We ask whether we are dealing with the process of the transition of studies (as goods, skills) from the domain of desire (for knowledge, skills, personal growth, critical thinking) to a domain of demand (fighting for a better socio-economic position in the labour market and in society generally). If we accept the findings that studies or academic titles are being increasingly transferred to the level of demand, what does that mean for the process of university education, its relevance to the labour market, how is it affecting the socio-economic position of students and the shaping of their biographies and, finally, how is it influencing stratification movements in society.
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