From the underprivileged to the privileged: an analysis of the relations between school cultures and inequalities of access to culture

• Grant number: 23/04701-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2023
• End date: April 30, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Interdisciplinary Subjects
• Principal Investigator: Mariana Abrantes Giannotti
• Grantee: Eliene Ferreira dos Santos
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 13/07616-7 - CEM - Center for Metropolitan Studies, AP.CEPID

Abstract

This research is developed on the basis The first is based on Pierre Bourdieu's theories that society, stratified into social classes, is also stratified based on the possession of cultural capital. The second is related to the first in so far as that according to evidences from empirical studies we understand that in some metropolises, specifically in the Brazilian case, socioeconomic inequalities are decisively related to inequalities of access to cultural equipments and, therefore, opportunities to acquire cultural capital. These two premises are the basis for the reflection of this paper, which deals with the development of distinct school cultures depending on the socioeconomic context in which they are inserted. Recognizing on one hand that school institutions from privileged contexts have more access to opportunities of acquisition of cultural capital, and therefore have more conditions and instruments for certain types of planning and pedagogical activities. Schools from underprivileged contexts, however, have limited options for educational planning, which are constrained by the dynamics of inequalities of the cultural capital and urban inequalities themselves. Thus, this paper proposes to investigate the relationship between the socioeconomic contexts in which schools are embedded and the access to cultural facilities by members of school communities, especially students, and how this relationship is reflected in the realization of specific school cultures.