Cicatrizes invisíveis: as implicações do estigma sobre adolescentes no ambiente escolar

Abstract

This master's thesis investigates the implications of stigma on the construction of selfimage among high school students in situations of social vulnerability, within the context of two public schools in the state education system of Juiz de Fora (MG). Based on the theoretical framework of Erving Goffman's interactionism, particularly his works “Stigma: Notes on the Management of a Spoiled Identity” (2021) and “The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life” (2023), the research articulates these concepts with Jessé Souza's reflections on the Brazilian “ralé” (the Brazilian underclass) to understand how social origin becomes a derogatory mark within the school environment. The study, employing a qualitative approach, was structured around three methodological axes: documentary analysis of Political-Pedagogical Projects, School Regulations, and incident reports; simple observation of interactions in classrooms, class councils, and common areas; and the conduct of open and semi-structured interviews with students, teachers, and administrators. The comparative analysis between the two institutions revealed that stigma operates in a multifaceted manner, manifesting itself from the public exposure of academic performance and the selectivity in applying sanctions to the pathologization of behaviors and the blaming of families in teachers' discourses. It became evident that the school, by establishing normative expectations detached from the students' material and cultural conditions, acts as a producer of deteriorated identities, forging the figure of the "problem student." In response, students develop complex dramaturgical survival strategies, oscillating between the internalization of stigma, isolation, the construction of compensatory facades, and active resistance. The investigation points out that stigma constitutes a structuring violence that, by eroding self-esteem and the sense of belonging, compromises the right to education and leaves deep, albeit invisible, marks on juvenile subjectivity.