Sociétés et Jeunesses en Difficulté ()
L’élève adolescent en situation minoritaire. Le travail identitaire du sujet sur ses référents ethnoculturels
Abstract
Identity assertions of students from working-class neighbourhoods tend sometimes to be interpreted as a sign of withdrawal or a difficulty to integrate in the society. But the process of identity construction in the context of immigration or in a minority situation is characterised by its dialectical and multidimensional nature. The article analyses how students from two schools of Brussels mobilise different ethnocultural repertoires and negotiate the impact of these referents on their identity construction. The results of this survey of twenty-one students aged between fifteen and eighteen highlight their reflexive skills. The school setting and the unifying or segregating nature of the social and ethno-cultural categories circulating within the school environment structure the students’ identifications in a contrasting way, however the article shows that these are not necessarily taking refuge in the ethnocultural referents of the surrounding community (the family, the religious community, the suburb environment) and have the capacity to reason out their choices.
