Pertenencia escolar y subjetividad en adolescentes de sectores populares

Abstract

This article analyzes the tensions generated during the process of integrating adolescents from disadvantaged sectors into upper secondary education. Our analysis focuses on the relationship between the construction of a belonging sense and the subjectivation processes. Our main argument sustains that these tensions are associated with the configuration of divided subjectivities in these adolescents, resulting from a school belonging based on homogeneity and the rejection-devaluation of subordinate youth identities. We followed a qualitative methodology, based on semi-structured interviews (73) and focus groups (5) with students from seven schools located in cities from Mexico’s central (Mexico City), northern (Tijuana) and southern (Tuxtla) areas. The results reveal that school as an institution faces several difficulties to contain the authenticity and self-esteem of the most vulnerable adolescents, thus inviting the reader to reflect on the pending transformations needed to achieve a more inclusive school system that does not abandon its transformative pretensions.