“Soccer is all I am, there is nothing else”: Self, future orientation, and cultural capital among low SES youth who play professional soccer

This paper examines how low SES youth who play soccer in professional clubs experience and define themselves and the place of soccer (and being professional youth players) in their self-concept from the perspective of Bourdieu's class theory. In-depth interviews with 22 youth revealed four key findings: self-definitions and perceptions of their significant others (parents, teachers, and coaches); school experiences; descriptions of professional soccer participation experiences; and future orientation. These findings provide insights into the link between class, sports, and education, including the characteristics of the sporting habitus and class habitus of youth and their contribution to social inequality and educational stratification. Moreover, the discussion section emphasizes the educational importance of a future orientation and practicing it as an agentic means of coping with the habitus of constraint, structural vulnerabilities, and social exclusions.