This article discusses a type of violence that occurs in the school between pairs of teenagers, called bullying and / or intimidation. The research used as reference to sociocultural psychology and social development and aimed to understand the meanings produced on the practices of intimidation in schools. Twenty-eight students participated between 16-18 years of high school at a public school in the city of Recife / PE. We used qualitative methodology, using the resources of participant observation and focus groups. As a result, we highlight the significance of friendly relations for the group of teenagers, who undertook the individual critical sense in situations of disrespect and humiliation for the maintenance of socio affective relationship, the homogeneity of the group and the position achieved among pairs. The interactions that produced intimidation, from the culturally significant values for the group, if sustained, because they were masked by jokingly.
school violence; peer intimidation; socio-historical psychology