Expediency or Self-liberation:Research on the Grounded Theory of Postgraduate"Voluntary Graduation Deferral"
Although it is usually seen as a helpless choice for losers,in the face of the many uncertainties from the risk society,graduation deferral is gradually becoming an active option after consideration of personal gains.This study finds that voluntary graduation deferral is now deemed as a choice after extensive pondering over self-development and temporary employment,with the benefit of saving face,demonstrating courage and accumulating energy for further study.Voluntary graduation deferral can be divided into four types,i.e."pursuing dreams","rights and interests","hesitation"and"reconciliation",with each of them manifesting a different logic of action subject to different structural conditions.However,whatever the type of voluntary graduation deferral is,students face the common real-life tensions represented by lingering psychological pressure,the meaning construction of contradictions,sunk cost controversy,and so on.Overall,the voluntary graduation deferral has clear characteristics of the"post-epidemic era",interlinked with emerging phenomena such as"delayed employment"and"gap year to be determined",jointly shaped by individuals and society in different circumstances of resource allocation and interest pursuit,and deeply influenced by factors such as the current structural dilemma of employment and the time anxiety caused by society that is in accelerated development.This paper concludes that voluntary graduation deferral is not an opportunist behavior for only personal gains,but an ongoing human capital investment by individuals to alleviate anxiety and replenish themselves,which should not be stigmatized,and students should not be treated discriminatively.
postgraduatevoluntary graduation deferraltime anxietydelayed employmentthe gap year
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