Pluralism, structuring, and construction of identity in Uruguayan secondary education: interactions from the trenches

Abstract

The problem of interaction between adults and youngsters inside educational institutions, mostly in secondary education, has been a frequent object of study by Psychologists and Sociologists around the world. One of the most relevant and influential productions in this field is Paul Willis’ Learning to Labor, which was followed by an important number of studies of the same kind. The article takes Willis’ approach as point of departure of a discussion that takes also into consideration two of the main concepts of today’s Sociology, namely the ideas of structure and action (Giddens) and, more recently, Margaret Archer’s idea of the “internal conversation”. From that point of view, the article analyses the forms in which Uruguayan high school students interact with adults in the context of the weakening of educational rules inside schools. From a methodological perspective, the article is based on a series of interviews with high school teachers and students, and on the direct observation of the life and social relations in Montevideo’s high schools in the period of 1991-2003.