Youth and Sociology in High School:

social origins, representations and teaching possibilities

Abstract

The social origins and representations of High School student youth in the city of Uberlândia, Minas Gerais, are the subjects of this article. The research’s problem consists in investigate who these young students are and how this knowledge can favor the Sociology teaching. The theoretical foundations are built on authors from the Sociology of Education and the Sociology of Youth, since they contain the triad, Sociology-young-education, the main reflections raised here. The empirical research is based on survey, with the application of questionnaires and the formation of a database containing the main characteristics of these students. From that empirical framework, the general profile of the students is reconstructed: 15 to 18 years old, mostly women, dark-skinned (parda), evangelicals and with family income of up to two minimum wages, whose ascendants also confer them social belongings. In addition, the students' representations about the school as well as their emotional difficulties are assessed. These variables allow the understanding of the social, economic and cultural origins of young students, with suggestive use to serve as a parameter for classes, notably in the Sociology ones, which integrates and consolidates in its programmatic content the social themes analyzed here.