Le rappresentazioni del mondo del lavoro nelle fasce giovanili: applicazione di un metodo grafico

ABSTRACT This study focused on the planning and management of direct communication regarding the “culture of prevention” for new generations. The present research is part of the broad range of studies on “Social Representations” (SR, Moscovici 1984) and has its origins in the research planned within the 2006 “European Week”, promoted by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work. The study’s main aim was to define the “images” or shared Representations by the people interviewed on the topic of the “work world”, using a particular non-verbal (icons/visual) technique as a part of the method. Two hundred young people aged between 18 and 24 were interviewed, approximately balanced for sex, not yet working or with little or minor work experience. In order to study reliable SR, interviewees were asked to make a drawing illustrating how they “visualized” themselves in the work world. The content was then analyzed by assigning them to specific categories, established beforehand by independent judges. This marked out attributes and qualities of the work world, which were then applied in the next stage, in which independent judges assessed (Cohen’s K 0.84) the various representations. Results show that eight main categories of SR emerged, differently oriented according to two main dimensions: (a) positive (socialization, opening to others, well-being, usability) and (b) negative (precariousness, disorientation, isolation, withdrawn behaviour).