Social Violence and the School. An Empiric Report from the Perspective of Critical Neighborhoods

Abstract

This article presents the results of a study conducted from 2005-2007, with the goal of analyzing the problems of social violence and juvenile crime in the largest and most populated municipality in the Greater Buenos Aires region of Argentina. The approach used the prism of the school institutions, considered to be relevant actors in construction of identity of youths and an agency for promoting social inclusion. Despite the changes undergone, it is a space for re-contextualizing experiences of the primary groups and of the social surroundings in which children and youth participate, creating conditions for education. The research sought to recognize the dispositions and perceptions of educational actors (students, teachers, administrators and school guidance counselors) concerning violence and crime, and to identify processes of labeling, disappearance and hiding.