BETWEEN FOOTBALL AND SCHOOL: A BOURDIEUSIAN ANALYSIS ABOUT DUAL CAREER IN BRAZIL

Abstract

Soccer student-athletes are exposed to the challenge of reconciling sports and academic careers. This dual-career situation imposes tensions that can result in dropout or poor performance. Our aim was to analyze the challenges faced by soccer student-athletes in Brazil when reconciling academic and sport careers. Considering dual career as a social issue, this essay is based on the literature about this phenomenon and on categories from Pierre Bourdieu’s reflective sociology. As main results, the recurring prioritization of the sport career is related to the individuals’ socioeconomic origins; the symbolic power of clubs over schools; the search for social ascension; sports and school systems that reproduce inequalities.