The Emperor’s New Careers: Rhetoric and Reality of Employability

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 9:45 am - Gold 1
  In Roundtable Session: Roundtable 2

Abstract

This paper critically examines the dominant discourse of “employability” in higher education, arguing that it masks structural inequalities by individualising career success and failure. Using positioning theory, it contrasts two narratives: one framing employability deficits as personal shortcomings, and another exposing how such narratives maintain elite privilege. The paper deconstructs mechanisms that legitimise inequality—such as tokenism, myths of meritocracy, and deficit models of career readiness. It highlights the psychological and social impact on non-traditional graduates, who are blamed for systemic barriers beyond their control. The paper calls for class-conscious, qualitative research that centres lived experience and challenges the rhetoric of employability as a universal good.

Author

• Laura Dean, University of Sheffield