# Words as Vectors of the Construction of Identity: The Example of Young Graduates in a Situation of Overeducation

ANNE-MARIE COSTALAT-FOUNEAU & ANNABELLE FOURES

Epsylon Laboratory EA4556, University Paul-Valéry, Montpellier, France

Identity is a complex system regulated by emotional, cognitive and contextual dynamic processes. The ego-ecological perspective developed by Zavalloni and Louis-Guérin (2005, 2007) considers that the identity system of an individual is revealed by words which are so many representational units of the Self, of the Alter and Society. These experiential references imply that language is composed of emotionally charged words. The individual's identity words will be identified via the collection of different language elements using the Multistage Investigator of Social Identity (MISI). Identity words are considered as socio-dynamic "nuclei" of subjectivity, which combine both experiences and contexts of life and are related to representations of the self, others and the world. To illustrate the dynamics and the emotional anchoring of the identity words of a population of young overeducated graduates, we will present a case study, using the ego-ecological method and the MISI (Zavalloni, 2007), in order to identify identity words and their emotional anchoring.

**Keywords:** identity dynamics, language, feelings, overeducation, ego-ecological
INTRODUCTION

Many graduates encounter difficulties in their professional integration (first job, first work experience, current socio-economic situation). Beyond this general problem of the unemployment of new workers, we also note a structural decline in job offers, forcing many young graduates to accept positions for which they are overqualified. Young graduates access jobs under fixed-term contracts. People will be employed for a limited time and for a specific purpose. Unlike previous generations, many young graduates will not have a linear career. We were particularly interested in master's 2 graduates (with five years of higher education) who do not obtain an executive position after entering the world of work; this phenomenon is characterized by overeducation. The originality of this study lies in its goal of clarifying the complex situation of the overeducated person, so we have selected the case of a woman who alternates between periods of fixed-term employment and periods of unemployment. This research is based on Lemistre's investigative work (2013) on the professional integration of recent graduates. In particular, he explains the notion of overeducation, and the statistics related to it. In the 1970s, a bachelor's degree (three years of higher education) led the way to an executive position in the majority of cases. However, in a 2010 study, Lemistre revealed that one in three graduates with a master's degree did not have such a position. In this context, we asked how self-representations develop in these young people.

Our study is based on the theory of ego-ecology and on the theoretical model of the dynamics of the Costalat-Founeau capacity system (2008). These research models on the evolution of identity aim to analyze interaction and mediation between the self and the socio-cultural environment. The steps taken by the individual are part of an experiential dynamic of achievement through the validation of their subjective capacities.

In their identity construction, the young graduate aspires to update their new qualifications in the professional world. Work remains an essential vector for young graduates who want to update their skills. The different interactions also have a lasting influence on their self-image.

We decided to approach the research problem of overeducation with a qualitative study, which acknowledged the unique nature of the subject and analyzed the impact of overeducation on the identity dynamics of a young woman graduate with a master's degree. She did not have a permanent contract and so her professional and personal situation was precarious. The purpose of this study, which we present through a case study, is to analyze the identity mechanisms of a woman in a situation of overeducation. With this case, we worked on identification of the
factors that activated or inhibited the representational dynamics of the woman in achieving her career ambitions.

## Identity, social representation and language

Social representations, such as identity, are the result of a psychosocial dynamic. Many French researchers such as Jodelet (1989) have raised the question of the epistemological status of representations and the link with identity. It remains, as Piaget (1976) says, a mode of socio-centric knowledge serving needs, interests and desires. The fact that the representation is a reconstruction of the object leads to a form of discrepancy with its referent. This discrepancy can also be associated with personal involvement and individual commitments. In this way, by introducing this notion of personal involvement, we realized that representation fulfills certain functions, including the retention of social identity. In his book on social representations, Moscovici (1961/2004) deals with the subjects of anchoring and objectification. In our opinion, it is in these processes that the question of identity lies. Indeed, "social representations are generating principles of taking specific positions in a set of social relations and organizing the symbolic processes intervening in these relations". There are close links between these processes and contexts driven by social relations that constitute networks of meaning activated by these symbolic processes. So, identity is collective and individual, which appears through a true "articulation" between an inner world and the outside world; the concept of identity is at the crossroads of these two worlds.

Identity comes from a transaction between a person and a standardized social context in which different levels (society, organization, groups) overlap. It is built around an interdependence between the inner world of the individual (which involves autobiographical memory) and the outside world (which involves society, organizations and groups).

Erikson (1972) was the first to formulate the notion of psychosocial identity. He defines identity as an inner world that "not only surrounds you, but you also carry within yourself". Mead (1963), frequently quoted in work on identity, argues that self-awareness is not innate in the subject, but that the subject acquires it through language and their development in their social environment. Therefore, identity is built around an interdependence between the inner world of the individual (which involves autobiographical memory, aspirations) and the outside world (society, organizations and groups). The social environment leads to behavioral expectations of an individual and implies that identity is defined according to others (Vygotsky, 1997/2013). Indeed, it is organized in a representational dynamic where the action phases are
social, living experiences. It leaves forms of imprint on the memory which give identity all its experiential reality (Costalat-Founeau, 2008). Language is a symbolic mediator that co-constructs identity in its context and with the groups around it. Through the representations of the world around them, interactions with others and with the different objects of knowledge of world, individuals adapt their behavior. According to Dubar (2002), identity cannot be defined without the social interactions that the individual maintains. Thus, identity is thought to be the product of successive socializations, essential to its construction. As defined by Percheron (1974), socialization is the acquisition of a symbolic code resulting from transactions between the individual and society. Therefore, the identity of a person is marked by the groups of belonging (Tajfel & Turner, 2001) in their social environment, which gives them a role and which allows them to differentiate themselves from and compare themselves to others.

Identity is a key element that integrates subjective and objective reality into a dialectical relationship with society (Berger & Luckmann, 2014). The individual finds their identity in this constant interaction that links the inner world and their social environment (Lipiansky, 2005). The construction of identity results from the representations the subject makes of themselves through clear and perspicacious identity phases or phases of representational diffusion as well as "more or less successful adaptations and attempts at integration." (Costalat-Founeau, 2016). Identity construction can be conceived as a dynamic process hovering between two contradictory poles: the differentiation of rules and values where the individual must assert themselves and extract themselves and various determinations that will help them create their own identity.

## The emotional power of words

In the relationship we have with others, groups, society, language is a mediator and the power of words helps to co-construct identity, in the sense that it allows us to communicate and to transmit the meaning to others (MacIntyre, 1998). From the words that the person uses, we can explain the construction of meaning for oneself and for others (Chomsky, 2005).

Thus, we can consider language as a symbolic mediator, which makes it possible to communicate, to find one's identity as situated, to introduce oneself to others, to negotiate. It traces the social construction of the subject's identity.

Although it allows a universal communication, it keeps a personal character, because each word carries an autobiographical meaning and refers to a social and personal history, which can resonate by activating memories and experiences. An individual will apply their own
system of interpretation to the information proposed by their interlocutor. Affective factors,
which act as filters, are at work in the phenomena of the selection, modification, or even
distortion of meaning in the communication situations of everyday life. There are, however,
characteristics common to both interlocutors, which allow sharing or grouping of the semantic
content of the messages, and therefore an understanding (Ferrand, 2001).

Rimé (2009, p.161) states that "the internal 'I' and the outside world [...] are constructed
and realized by language." Blanchet and Gotman (2007, p.23) argue that language, in the
manner of the other referents of the identity process, "is more than the 'vehicle' of an identity:
by allowing the advent of the" self "in the social sphere, it participates intimately in the identity
construction of the individual subject. Then, they add that linguistic functions remain the basis
of the identity function, because they make the speaker subscribe to communicative exchange
systems. Language, with its emotionally charged words, makes it possible to simultaneously
identify the representation which the subject creates of themselves and the meaning they give
to the context (Costalat-Founeau, 2001). Some researchers such as Damasio (1998), Dan-
Glauser and Scherer (2013) have distinguished the emotion and the emotional experience that
represents the subjective feeling of emotion, from the conscious aspect of emotion.

According to Moscovici (1961/2004), emotion is a preparation for action, and we can
consider that there is a close link between emotion and job satisfaction. Thus, emotion becomes
a powerful regulator of coping strategies at work (Kafetsios & Zampetakis, 2007). The
emotional experience unites the self and the outside world in a particular way (Lambie &
Marcel, 2002). When the individual accesses an emotional experience, they will operate in
accordance with a socio-normative regulation, according to the representations that the
individual has of themselves and the social norms. Emotion is considered as a function of
adjustment to a stressful situation by activating the representations that the individual has of
themselves and the context (Janet, cit. in Claudon & Weber, 2009). Emotional responses can
be seen as a form of adaptation of the individual to their environment in a process of avoiding
negative emotional experiences.

Identity words: Emotionally charged experiences

Although identity words allow universal communication, they nevertheless retain personal
characteristics because each word has an autobiographic meaning and a social and personal
history which can resonate (Zavalloni, 2007).
Bower (1992) showed how the relationship between recall and emotional cognition is
driven. According to him, the memory of each event is represented in memory by words that
are linked to each other and to other events. Thus, each emotion is represented by a main node
to which other nodes representing specific events are connected. This analysis of the emotional
activation associated with the event and the memory poses the complex problem of the
representation of experiences in memory.

Identity words are considered as dynamic nuclei of subjectivity, which combine
multiple experiences and contexts of life, related to representations of the self, others and the
world. They are sometimes referred to as "force words" which express their influence on the
organization of the structure of identity.

Identity words are a unit of analysis opening onto a universe of symbols, concrete experiences and emotions called "thought of substance" (Zavalloni, 2007). The underlying thought accompanies the discourse and gives the subject the impression of lived reality.

The psycho-contextual analysis of words reveals a vast network of associations at the
center of an affective-representational circuit, making it an identity word which has a
differentiated projection compared to neutral words. This comparative study of identity words
and neutral words was carried out in a hospital using MRI (Costalat-Founeau, Le Bars, Mary
& Cadet 2013). Once the identity words were collected using the MISI method (Zavalloni,
2007; Zavalloni & Louis-Guérin, 1984), the words were repeated to the subjects through a
headset between 56 and 76 times (11 to 15 words), both identity and neutral. The MRI results
revealed an increase in the signal when an identity word entered the subject's field of
consciousness. The signal from the identity words was significantly superior to the auditory
signal from the neutral words. Moreover, the brain areas where emotions and memory are
located are part of the areas mobilized when hearing the identity words. When identity words
enter a subject's field of consciousness, the Brodmann area related to emotions is activated.
This experiment allowed us to detect the emotional impact of identity words.

THE EGO-ECOLOGY MODEL AND THE MISI METHOD

Ego-ecology (Zavalloni, 2007) is a research model devoted to the evolution of identity with the aim of studying the interaction and mediation between personal identity and collective identity, the contribution of subjectivity and that of the socio-cultural environment. This model is presented as a structural and dynamic theory of the relationship, involving a plurality of disciplines which is a prerequisite for approaching the subject. The theory of ego-ecology and
its MISI investigation method explain the relationship between self-representation, action and
the feeling of capability (Zavalloni, 2007; Zavalloni & Louis-Guérin, 1984). Ego-ecology
focuses on the creative dimension of discourse and the question of the meaning of words. The
self and world representations are underpinned by our identity which is also based on belonging
groups linked to memory, sense of ability, motivation and career plans.

The MISI is a methodology for clarifying identity complexity because it makes a link
between the internal and external environment, exomorphism and allomorphism. We were able
to analyze the identity mechanisms of our subject according to her status, social affiliations and
environment. This method is suitable for studying identity mechanisms in populations with
more or less conflicting identity phases, since it reveals the functional relationships between
self-awareness, objective social affiliations and their representations. This responds to our
desire for research into women encountering barriers in the construction of their professional
identity because of a difficulty in access to employment and a mismatch between their initial
training and the jobs they have.

This method allows speech to be objectified without involving the interviewer. The
interviews were semi-structured: an interview grid was established, based on the
representations that emerged during the first phase of compilation. The aim of the interviews
was to examine in depth the meaning of the representations collected in Phase I in order to
clarify the subject's deep-seated motivations. The young woman was selected on a voluntary
basis and she gave us permission to publish her results anonymously.

## CASE STUDY

Our study focused on a female subject because this population is more affected by precarious
work situations than men (unemployment, unequal pay and status). Thus, we will present the
case of Charlotte. Her career seems to illustrate the identity dynamics of these young graduates,
through overeducation and also through transitional periods without employment. Therefore,
our study tries to highlight the downgrading of Charlotte, around which her existential self is
organized, through her social situation: deskilling, overeducation and unemployment.

## Overeducation: Problems in its Definition and Measurement

In recent decades, academic development has increased access to higher education. The diploma undoubtedly plays a role in access to employment. But the increase in job offers for executive positions is not as high as the entry of graduates into the professional world (Girait
Nauze-Fichet & Tomasini, 2006). Commonly, an individual is overeducated when they "occupy a job whose level is lower than it should be" normally "compared to the level of their initial education" (Foundeur & Minni, 2004). We have chosen to study overeducation, in the manner of Lemistre (2013) who offers an original view of overeducation because he adds unemployment to this concept. Techniques used to measure overeducation suppose that people are in employment, so it excludes people who are unemployed even though they may experience periods of overeducation. Although the woman we chose for our study was not employed at the time of our study, she was overqualified for all the jobs she previously had.

The fact that our subject was unemployed offers a distinctive perspective and allows us to study another aspect of overeducation. Thus, it allows to us highlight a period of inactivity after having graduated. We also chose this type of population because it is a situation representative of almost half the young graduates in France (INSEE, 2017): the alternation between periods of inactivity and periods of employment, inconsistent with their education, what are commonly called basic jobs.

## How to measure overeducation?

Nauze-Fichet and Tomasini (2002), Boisson (2009) identified different ways of assessing overeducation. We selected two of them. The first is based on the statistical standard of adequacy between a university degree and the socio-professional category. The second method is based on the person's feeling of being overqualified. These two measures when crossed give a percentage estimate of the number of young people objectively and subjectively overqualified. Here we will consider the statistical standard university degree / socio-professional category in reference to the current job or the previous one and the person's feeling of being overqualified. According to the AFIJ study (2011), 87% of graduates who have obtained a job with executive status hold a master's degree against 3% who have only completed the first year of a master's degree (this is a two-year course in France). This is why we believe that holders of a master's degree who do not achieve executive status are being overeducated.

## Case Presentation: Charlotte, age 25

Charlotte is a 25-year-old female graduate. Holder of a high-school diploma, she completed all her studies in the same university, starting with a bachelor's degree in "Media, Culture and Communication". Then, she obtained a Master's degree in Information-Communication with a first year specializing in "Pragmatic Communication, Organization and Innovation" and a
second year specializing in "Information-Communication". She currently holds a Master's
degree in Information-Communication with a specialty in the "Communication of
Organizations and Innovation", which she obtained in 2014 with a distinction.

When studying, Charlotte had periods of work experience, particularly through
volunteering and internships, but also through completing her last year of study on day release
as an assistant manager for 17 months. After successfully completing her master's degree, she
obtained a post as Project Manager in the university where she studied, and then a job as a
Training and Communications Project Manager, part-time for a period of 2 months.

We met Charlotte three months after she had become unemployed. In her professional experiences, she had never had the status of manager or even activities in keeping with her skills. Regarding Charlotte's personal environment, it was important for her to tell us that she became a mom a year ago, something which has had a big influence on her career prospects.

*Charlotte's Elementary Space of Social Identity (ESSI) (Step I)*

Charlotte's Elementary Space of Social Identity (ESSI) (Figure 1) reveals the value and self-applicability of the representational units produced for each stimulus group. We gave Charlotte three stimulus groups: women, the overeducated and young unemployed people. Then, she was asked to choose a group that seemed essential to her in her current identity and which was very important in her life. She chose the young mothers' group.

The young mothers' group is mainly represented in the posipole (positive pole) of the
self by RUs (representational units) symbolizing their independence as mothers, such as
"responsible" and "resourceful", as well as their skills with the words "organized" and
"effective". It is the group most represented in the posipole of the self as opposed to the
overeducated group, having no RUs in the posipole of the self and the unemployed young
people's group which only has one representational unit in the posipole of the self ("not
beaten"). The overeducated group is mostly represented in the negapole of the self. This space
represents the obstacles to personal or group development. There are some victimization RUs:
"subject to external pressures", "lost", "many competitors". But, some RUs also refer to
personal faults such as "not in a hurry"

to enter the labor market" and "too fussy. For the group of unemployed young people,
it is represented in the negation of the self and of the non-self. In the negapole (negative pole)
of the self, we find words relating to victimization: "devalued", "oppressed", "lost". For the
negapole of the non-self, it is representative of danger ("living one day at time") and counter-
values ("negative"). Finally, for the women's group, the distribution of RUs according to the associated value is rather balanced. Some of the terms are positive ("considerate", "determined", etc.) while others are negative ("jealous", "complicated", etc.).

In Charlotte's ESSI (Annex), there is a strong relationship of complementarity between the non-self and the self. Indeed, the theme of the determination of the positive non-self complements the theme of the victimization of the negative self. It acts as a response of help, and protection against the difficulties of the negative self. Courage, determination and fighting spirit, will help to overcome difficulties of the self ("subject to external pressures", "many competitors", "lost", "devalued", "oppressed"). The theme of versatility situated in the posipole of the non-self, will support the theme of independence and determination both positioned in the space of the positive self. The RUs "thoughtful" and "multitasking" will strengthen the fact of being "responsible", "efficient", "resourceful" and "organized". In addition to the relationship of complementarity with the themes of independence and determination, there is also a relationship of contiguity. In other words, the updating of the theme of independence will strengthen the theme of determination. Being "responsible", "organized" and "resourceful" will strengthen the fact of being "determined", "not beaten and effective". The RUs of the theme of determination will also strengthen those of the theme of independence. In addition, there is a relationship of reciprocal specification between these two themes. Organization and "resourcefulness" can be determined by efficiency and the fact of not being beaten. Conversely, it seems that organization can lead to efficiency. There is also an antagonistic opposition between the theme of obstacles to entry to the labor market, in the negapole of the self and uncertainty situated in the negapole of the non-self. As Charlotte describes it, living one day at time means not having long-term plans. In addition, Charlotte, being a young mother, she does not want to be mobile and move away from her family. This concern will influence the fact of not wanting to be mobile for professional reasons. The self has a strong coherence via the relations of contiguity and reciprocal specification that are found there. This will reveal a defensive counter-development of the subject with regard to the devalued elements of the self in particular in the theme of victimization.

## Analysis of Charlotte's Identity Dynamics (Phase II)

The interview analysis was structured around several themes. These themes emerge from Charlotte's speech. We include in the analysis extracts from our discussions with Charlotte.
## Independence and determination

The relations of contiguity and reciprocal specification that link the themes of independence and determination will make these two notions a central part of Charlotte's identity.

"My determination goes hand in hand with my will, my motivation: when we want to, we can, and that's what I do."

Through her use of adjectives and expressions, Charlotte proves the strength of her determination. Indeed, this determination is present, on the one hand in the posipole of the self, but also in the posipole of the non-self. Charlotte tells how her determination allowed her to succeed after having a child:

"I still managed my life after having a baby. When I say managed, I talk about my academic success."

## Courage

But, paradoxically with this determination, Charlotte does not consider herself to be a courageous person, she even tries to run away from difficult situations:

"Because being brave means coping with things you do not want to face, and it's difficult for me to suffer. So ... well ... uh ... I prefer to avoid the things that I consider difficult, in order to avoid, more precisely, suffering."

She is aware that she cannot cope with situations that she thinks are insurmountable.

"Avoidance coping" is also the behavior she uses to deal with competition from other graduates. Indeed, the "combative" RU was produced for the graduates' group, but she does not identify with it in her speech.

"It's just ... the competition is very strong. And now I really do not want to enter this competition. Maybe later, but it's not my priority now."

## Social pressure and success
Charlotte opts to avoid difficult tasks which she perceives as threats. She says she "does not want to force herself to do things anymore" and justifies this by saying that she "thinks it's the twenty-five-year-old crisis":

"I'm more zen, I think about the essential. I think of my physical and psychological health and of my close family and friends."

She considers herself to be more relaxed than before, her priorities are no longer the same. She decides to think of herself and others before thinking about success, school or work. She describes physical and psychological health as essential. This illustrates the fact that Charlotte does not feel downcast as a young unemployed person. She decides to take time for herself and her family. Taking time for yourself and your family is for her, more important than finding a job:

"Yes, we switch from the pressure of academic success to that of professional success. We think we want to stop watching the clock to do things and take time for ourselves and our family. To relax a little ..."

These words illustrate the fact that young people are "not in a hurry to enter the labor market ". But she evaluates this negatively, whereas we may think that taking time before entering the professional environment for good is positive for her. Indeed, as a young mother, she feels "torn". And this, because of external elements that put pressure on the education of her child and her entry into working life:

"I feel torn for sure. It's because of several pressures, I should raise a child, start my career, behave like an adult ... That's a lot of new responsibilities to assume at once! "

The use of the word "should" in her speech denotes a sense of obligation to achieve what society expects of a woman, and moreover as a mother. She even says about the young unemployed:

"They are seen as inactive, useless to society. It's obvious, they're not going the right way. Uh... in a society where speed and money are king. [...] Yes, that's it, I'm wrong."
Paradoxically, in her need to put her psychological and physical health first, she describes the fact of being unemployed as a brake on her social integration since she is acting in opposition to the values she defines as being dominant in society: speed and money. This reverse is for her punctuated by "external pressures" related to social success, and therefore imposed, as a member of the postgraduate group:

" Pressure? Yes, it's parents who react to social pressure and especially the pressure of social success. It is always necessary to be good looking, to be the best when they speak of their children to their friends for example. It's ... It's really demanding, and it puts pressure on, yes."

She uses the term "behave like an adult" as if she still had not crossed the subjective boundary between youth and adulthood.

## Responsibilities and independence

She considers young moms as "mature", contrary to her self-image:

"It's the impression they give me often! I still have a childish side, I still need to have fun regularly, and to run away from my responsibilities... "

She defined herself as responsible when we obtained her semantic repertoire for young mothers, but she still feels the need to sometimes flee her responsibilities. When we asked if she thinks she is always responsible or only responsible in certain situations, she answers:

"Not all the time, no, well, it's especially when I don't have much choice ..."

This need to run away from these responsibilities is also reflected in her negative assessment of "living one day at time," she says, "it can be negative in the long run" because Charlotte has no plans, no long-term vision concerning the professional sphere. But despite this need to run away from these responsibilities, she defines herself as being resourceful as a young person, and this is justified by her financial independence:

"Since I was 18, I have always been fully self-funding, I have not received any financial help from my parents."
Her financial independence is not entire, because she only speaks about it in relation to her parents. On the contrary, we find in self-negation a "dependent" RU for the group of young people without a professional activity:

"They are also dependent on the system, because they survive through the work of others. Uh... we can say that yes, they are dependent on social subsidies for example."

Independent as a young mother, but dependent as a young unemployed person. She has thus emancipated herself from her family, which indicates a more tangible independence as it affects her closest relational sphere, but she is still beholden to higher and more abstract bodies, which, as we have seen previously, create social pressure.

## Locating the identity word(s)

To illustrate Charlotte's identity dynamics, we present interview extracts related to the "resourceful" identity word that shows her transactional capacities in her current situation of overeducation (Figure 2).

## Discussion of Charlotte's dynamics

The results highlight Charlotte's search for balance between her private life and her professional life. She says that she is torn between her private life and her professional life. It is difficult for her to reconcile her child's education with her entry into the labor market. The original goal she had was to succeed in school when she had a child. Once she graduated, she decided that her professional integration would not be a priority and her well-being and her family's well-being were more important.

The additional interview we conducted with Charlotte reveals the fact that she puts her personal life first. Her positive self-space is mainly (if not exclusively, for lack of RUs) composed of RUs related to the women and young mothers' groups. Determination, independence and openness are the three themes that characterize her, but these themes are not related to her identity as a young graduate looking for a job. They reflect her identity as a woman and as a mother. The positive aspect of her identity is her role as a woman and a mother. On the other hand, we find in self-negation, groups of overeducated and unemployed young people who are mainly represented by victimization and by the obstacles they encounter to entering
the labor market. This victimization is reflected in her speech by the social pressure she suffers.
Indeed, expectations of her success are very high because she has to prove herself as a mother
and as a young worker. But, as she hasn't an immediate plan, she does not behave proactively
as a young unemployed person, but as a passive person subject to external pressures.

She acts as a mother, which helps her build a positive identity since she invests all her
energy in this role. Her sense of capability is therefore positive, and this is what we see in her
Elementary Space.

With regard to her career plans, Charlotte is not currently implementing any processes
that reflect an intention to act. So, she does not attribute any RUs to herself, in the posipole of
the self. And this even leads to a negative representation of what unemployed young people,
and she herself, can be. But, as the theme of victimization is a central theme of the negapole of
the self, this reveals that the negative aspect that she attributes to herself as an unemployed
young person does not come from an undervaluation of herself, but of the place of this group
in society. This is why groups of overeducated and unemployed young people are portrayed as
victims in a society that leaves no room for them.

CONCLUSION

Our study investigates the complexity of the identity dynamics of an individual, a young job-seeker with a feeling of being overeducated. The MISI method allowed us to show the state of tension in Charlotte's identity dynamics. Indeed, there is a conflict between the positive values of her identity and the elements questioning her integrity.

Using the same method, the exploration of the identity of the overeducated young
woman in our study shows that defensive counter-development serves to offset the negative
representations of herself. Her normative capacity is devalued because of an environment that
does not offer sufficient recognition. Dubar (2002) relates this insufficiency of recognition to
the emergence of new ways of affirming identity. We observe this effect of a search for
compensation, especially with the "young mothers" group; although she is aware of the
difficulty of achieving her ambitions, she mitigates these effects by her involvement in her role
as mother. Similarly, highlighting her skills in her other identity spheres, reveals a mobilization
of her subjective abilities. Thus, the defense strategies she mobilizes will emerge from attempts
to balance her capability system. The negative representations of overeducation and
unemployment integrated into the identity dynamics of this young woman will be offset by the
implementation of plans. A speech analysis revealed a subjective capacity related to her plans.
In our opinion, the feeling of capability acts as a defense against a normative capacity failure, because of a lack of social validation, but also as compensation for a lack of professional recognition. This study we conducted allowed us to make a first approach to the construction of identity of a young overeducated woman. Capacity seems to be a central element of the dynamics of this system, since we have seen that our subject's identity is marked by the difficulty of entering working life. Professional integration is linked to the capacity system (Mary & Costalat-Founeau, 2018).

The difficulties that Charlotte will encounter make her identity dynamic a system marked by finding the balance between subjective and normative capacity. Moreover, if academic and professional transitions arouse emotions, it is because they can affect the person's security (Mallet & Gaudron, 2005). Uncertainties linked to school and work transitions create positive or negative emotions as transitions create safe or disturbing, pleasant or unpleasant feelings. This professional transition will therefore activate Charlottes's different spheres of lived and current experience, to reassess her skills and the definition of her expertise.

Our study shows how ego-ecology makes it possible to highlight identity processes and determinants that activate dynamics in a context of professional downgrading (Fourès, Costalat-Founeau & Ruiz, 2018). Keeping the singularity of the subject of study allows us to extract mechanisms that can enable us to understand a phenomenon. However, we can wonder about these same processes in other young graduates in a situation of overeducation. That is why it would be interesting to continue this first investigation into the overeducation of a young female graduate, notably by using the Drouin (2018) and Costalat-Founeau capacity scale (currently being validated) and to carry out a quantitative study allowing us to generalize the study of the feeling of capability in these young women who have accepted a lower grade position. This study will identify constructive phases of identity (where the subject controls their environment, their abilities, their skills and directs their career plans).

Lastly, this could lead to recommendations for professional integration bodies in order to understand the support of this population; and this, taking into account the psychological dynamics inherent in the overeducated situations experienced by these individuals. It also seems appropriate to prepare these young people in advance for the realities of employment. Indeed, at the end of their studies, individuals will exchange their student status for the status of job seeker. Thus, beliefs such as that a degree offers protection against unemployment can lead to - or at least foster - disillusionment when looking for a first job. Indeed, even if it is difficult to objectify the social prestige of the executive position (which Savage (2015) tries to measure
according to several criteria), this status is not spontaneously associated with the image of an unemployed person. There is the possible appearance of an imbalance between the person's subjective capacity and normative capacity. For this reason, training consultants to inform students about the difficulties of joining the workforce and about the regions with more employment opportunities could help young graduates' transition into working life.
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ANNE-MARIE COSTALAT-FOUNEAU is Professor Emeritus of Social Psychology at the University of Montpellier 3, and Member of the Epsylon EA4556 laboratory, she studies the link between action and the capacity system as a powerful regulator of the construction of social identity and its dynamics. Her research focuses on the adjustment of the capacity system (congruence or incongruence) in different contexts: organizational (mobility, professional transition), cultural (immigration and identity conflict) or health.

e-mail: anne.marie-costalat@univ-montp3.fr

ANNABELLE FOURÈS is a Work and Organizational Psychologist, she supports companies in the development of Human Resources, in particular through managerial support and the management and development of employees' skills. She also carried out research and explores the concept of professional downgrading through the identity dynamics of individuals.

e-mail: contact@fouresconsulting.com
ANNEX

<figure><img src="image_1.png" /><figcaption>Figure 1: Relationships within the Charlotte EEIS</figcaption></figure>
<figure><img src="image_2.png" /><figcaption>Figure 2: Exploration of the identity word "resourceful"</figcaption></figure>