Different Time Frames, Different Futures: How Disadvantaged Youth Project Realistic and Idealistic Futures.

The article examines how disadvantaged youth in rural Shanxi Province, China, project their aspirations and expectations differently across time frames, addressing conflicting sociological theories about whether such youth hold low or high aspirations. Using qualitative interviews with 31 eighth-grade students, the study finds that short-term future projections tend to be realistic and constrained by academic performance and economic resources, aligning with structural and rational choice models, while long-term futures are imagined idealistically to assert moral self-worth and distinguish themselves from rural origins, consistent with cultural sociology perspectives. The research also highlights gendered differences shaped by distinct family obligations and labor market opportunities, with boys more likely to anticipate immediate work (dagong) and girls inclined toward continued vocational education. Incorporating temporality into the study of aspirations offers a framework to reconcile competing theories and better understand how structural constraints and cultural ideals interact in shaping educational and career outcomes among disadvantaged youth.