Becoming a shepherd to remain an anarchist?

Based on an in-depth study of two shepherds who entered the profession in the mid-2010s, this article analyzes the relationship between political socialization and social mobility in a context affected by the closing down of biographical and collective opportunities for holders of cultural capital. It shows how protest dispositions shaped outside the family accentuate a disengagement from academia, produced by the deteriorating context, and give meaning to an experience in an objectively downgraded profession. If being a shepherd appears to be a space for political self-fulfillment for respondents who have dropped out of higher education, it’s first and foremost because it enables the transfer of anti-establishment dispositions. But maintaining one’s activist commitments while being a shepherd contradicts the strategies needed to settle into the activity on a long-term basis.