Att prestera på topp non-stop - En studie om studenters identitetsarbete på tre topputbildningar

Sammanfattning: Research on identity has for a long time been a popular area within management. In particular, studies have discussed how identities can be linked to the organizations in which individuals belong to. In addition to the extensive research on identities at a corporate and occupational level, this study addresses how three Swedish so-called top education programs affect student identity at an educational level. In order to answer the questions about how a top education affects identity and how the impact differs between the different types of education, a qualitative interpretivist study has been conducted with a total of 18 students from three top educations in Stockholm. The study examines one economics program, one civil engineer program and one medical program. The aim is to understand the students' views on themselves in relation to the education based on their stories and experiences, and if there is a difference in identity work between the educations. The findings from the empirical study show that the students relate to the social identities that exist within their education. There are different social identities in the educational programs where elite identity was apparent in the economics and civil engineer programs, and professional identity in the medical program. There was also a difference in how strong they were perceived. The different activities that students engage in in order to relate to these social identities constitute their identity work. This identity work could eventually lead to "identity conflicts" which can be explained as failures in not meeting the expectations of the social identity. The findings complement previous research and provide an explanation of how identities that have been shown in different occupations can already occur at university level.