The integration of young people to the labor world has been colored by the restructuring of production, a phenomenon that ranks both work and the future at increasingly unstable and insecure levels. Based on the theoretical consideration that social values are historically and socially situated, and that the liberal ideology of work pervades social life, this investigation aimed to analyze the work values of young people from different social groups. It is a qualitative study that captured the empirical object by analyzing the content of interviews carried out with 86 young people from different social groups in a municipality located in the São Paulo metropolitan region. In general, young people from all groups perceive work as something that is valuable, essential to attain the growth and maturation that is expected in adulthood. The purpose of the study proved to be a little different, since while for some work is the means through which it is possible to achieve the values of consumption and social position, to others it is a means to meet basic survival needs. Thus, the future depends on the direction they take in the labor market, since this is believed to be the main means to materialize other dreams.
youth; work; social values