AbstractThe purpose of this thesis is to explore how young uneducated people are influenced by the demand for education that the society puts on the youth of today. On a societal level there is a massive focus on how to get young people into and finish an education. Recent studies show, that there is a close correlation between education and the citizens ability to have the necessary qualifications to adapt to the rising expectations and the ever-changing demands of the labor market. In the light of this, education is granted a position as the most central and influential tool in the reduction of young people’s risk to become marginalized in the labor force. Young people with no education is a complex category which contains different levels of professional, social and personal difficulties that might challenge the individual person’s ability to be a straighten arrow through the educational system in a society which is highly characterized by the values of competition and individualization. This thesis departures from a critical hermeneutic scientific theory combined with qualitative empirical data derived from semi-structured interviews with five young people with no education as well as one interview with an employee from the social practice, in this thesis represented by Step Up. This thesis takes the perspective of the young uneducated people who are perceived as a marginalized group. It tries to shed light upon their experiences with the educational demands of the society and the potential of gaining identity and recognition in the light of their experiences as well as how the individual perceptions of ‘self’ and their actions are determined by the same societal demands. In effect, this thesis actively draws on the interactionist perspective, with the theory of recognition developed by Axel Honneth as well as the theory of stigma by Erving Goffman. The results of this study shows how uneducated young people perceives the demand for education set forth by the society in terms of an extended focus on grades, the ability to perform on a high professional level as well as the capability to ‘move on’ through education – three factors which provide the young people with means of recognition. The results also show, how young people with no education experience the interaction with the social practices whose aim is to support the young people to finish an education. Some of the young people feel recognized as individuals while others feel violated in a nonphysical manner by the employees at Step Up. The empirical material shows, that the differences between the young people’s perception can be explained by the degree of variation in the level of motivation to start and finish an education as perceived by the employees at Step Up. Last, but not least the results show, how young people without an education are stigmatized in relations to the stereotypical societal view on what is perceived as ‘normal’ contra ‘deviating’ regarding young people and education. The results show, how the young uneducated people have different strategies to handle the educational demands in relations to their parents, boy- or girlfriend, friends and other young uneducated people. In these relations, the young people can react by internalizing the stigma, support the stigma through their own perceptions, try to cover up the stigmatized aspects or use it to their own advantage.Through the discussion of this study, selected results of the analysis are put against moral scrutiny through an idealization of how Step Up should work with the young uneducated people. It is discussed how Step Up as a social practice should meet the young people without an education to enhance the possibility of a successful individual personal development which offers the young people equal possibilities of recognition no matter if they show motivation for participating or not.