Students’ occupations in Brazil in 2015 and 2016: subjects and trajectories

Abstract

This article communicates general results of a national study on high school occupations in Brazil in 2015 and 2016. It aimed to interpret the meanings of the participation of teenagers in this student movement, highlighting the characterization of the subjects who played a leading role in the occupations and educational, family, and political trajectory. The methodology employed included qualitative and quantitative analysis of 80 semi-structured interviews granted in 2019 and 2020 by young people from 10 different states, who were high school students in 2015 and 2016 and occupied their schools. The analysis was guided by the following categories: political subjectification, (Jacques Rancière’s), meaning (González Rey’s), and trajectory (inspired by Lahire and Bourdieu). The results: revealed the popular character of the movement; female students’ protagonism, and the decisive influence of the occupation experience in the definition of educational trajectories, among others aspects.