Abstract

SANTILLAN, Laura. The social construction of the education problem: an anthropologic study from the perspective and way of life of family groups. Intersecciones antropol. [online]. 2006, n.7, pp.375-386. ISSN 1850-373X.

In this paper, results from on-going anthropological research on the problem of education and inequality are presented. I focus on the social construction of the "educated person" from the perspective and way of life of family groups that live in contexts of urban poverty in Greater Buenos Aires. The analysis is based on ethnographic research, consisting of participant observation and biographical interviews. The perceptions and strategies of the families concerning the upbringing and education of children are linked to conditions of life; but, more fundamentally, they are connected to the significance that these conditions have for the subjects. The ideas and actions of parents directed at the "educated child" are based on the experience of everyday life in working class neighbourhoods and on hegemonic principles transmitted by social institutions (the school, the church, and health professionals). What emerges from the analysis is that adults actively intervene in the disputed field of "education", both adhering to the legitimized concepts and constructing alternative visions and action, dimensions that we bring to light through the theoretical concepts of hegemony and experience (Williams 1980; Thompson 1992).

Keywords : Education; Social construction; Family; Inequality; Hegemony.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )