Abstract

SAUCEDO RAMOS, Claudia L.. Between the collective and the experience of school expressed in life stories. Nueva antropol [online]. 2003, vol.19, n.62, pp.77-98. ISSN 0185-0636.

This article analyses the experience of the school as an expression of the interdependence between the individual and the sociocultural contexts in which he/she participates. From their experiences and subjective perspectives, how do individuals interpret or use collective cultural models about the value of the school? The author uses the concepts of cultural models and personal agency to interpret the relation between the collective culture and subjective, personal experience. Using the life stories of 10 "railway" families, the author studies narrative constructions which express generational changes about the role of the family with regard to the school, and the value of schooling in view of the labor market. In the case of the children, the multiple cultural models which they used to recreate the narration of their school experiences are analyzed, as well as how they justified their decisions to leave school or keep studying. The diverse reactions to schooling among the children of these families and their different ways of explaining them require a more detailed attention to the study of social groups, their socio-historical contexts, and the capacity which individuals have to choose and make decisions in view of available cultural resources and materials.