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The subtleties of the faces of violence in the school practices of adolescents

The proposal of this article is to cast a look upon the school life of middle and upper class adolescents focusing, however, on their practice of violence against their peers in two schools - one public, one private - in Vitória, capital of Espírito Santo, Brazil. The investigation consisted of an qualitative study, but has also used some quantitative data. In the fieldwork data was gathered through observation, questionnaires, group and individual interviews. Testimonies and written documents were also taken into account. The work has found that in both schools the socializing actions relate much more to the pedagogical aspect than to the educational proposal, which is left in a secondary position. Whenever a wide-ranging socialization is absent, the school does not function as a retranslator of social values, and ends up allowing ideas such as discrimination and prejudice to invade and overtake the school space. The failure of the socializing action in reaching the relational environment creates gaps through which pupils build experiences such as violence. With all the similarities and differences between the two schools studied here the decisive converging aspect between them is the presence of violence, even if in different degrees and with their faces veiled by subtle particularities.

School; Violence; Adolescents


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