Socialização e mobilidade social : os efeitos do Prouni sobre as trajetórias de vida dos egressos no oeste de Santa Catarina.

Abstract

This study analyses the relation between ProUni (University for All Program) and the social mobility processes of its beneficiaries. The effect of this public policy on life trajectories of graduates from different graduation courses at Universidade do Oeste de Santa Catarina (Unoesc) between 2009 and 2017 was investigated, having the graduates from this period as empirical clipping. The hypothesis conducting the investigation was supported by the idea of this public policy not applying to all individuals in the same way, although they belong to the same population segment in terms of income and social position. A study focused on an individual scale was conducted, which allowed demonstrating how individual’s backgrounds, constructed along their life trajectories, can result in different dispositions to actions in present contexts. The study was based on theoretical contributions of Bourdieu and Passeron’s studies regarding the reproduction of social inequalities via cultural field, and Bernard Lahire’s critiques towards this approach. Therefore, the study aims to contribute to theoretical discussions concerning the potentialities of access policies to higher education towards the individuals’ processes of upward social mobility, as well as to fostering economic and social development of the regions where these policies occur. The empirical research was developed by analyzing results of the socioeconomic questionnaires of the Exame Nacional de Educação (Enade) from 2009 to 2017, and by the accomplishment of a study of multiple cases, operationalized through twelve semi-structured interviews with graduates from Unoesc. The systematization and analysis of Enade’s data allowed the construction of a socioeconomic and educational profile of the group of graduates in the period, demonstrating that most students declared themselves white, pointing to unequal access to the university environment for historically marginalized populations, such as blacks, brown and indigenous people; other indicators refer to the marital status of most of the interviewees as single and to the fact of living with their parents during graduation, which indicated family support. The interview data analysis had as reference matrix Lahire’s several modalities of socialization, which pointed to the heterogeneity of the formation of individual’s dispositions. The results of this study reinforce Lahire’s thesis concerning the relativity of weight primary dispositions have on individuals’ trajectories, since individuals with the same primary habitus has constructed distinct trajectories based on their other socialization experiences, including the one provided by the university environment. Families are presented as relevant to the formation of the primary habitus, however, it is observed that acquired dispositions may be altered by the incorporation of other socialization experiences, which are going to construct the secondary habitus. Reports highlight that the incorporation of parent’s habitus by children does not occur naturally, as Bourdieu proposed, but rather through motivating actions, such as a walk, as proposed by Lahire. Moreover, for some graduates school has been seen as determining for the valorization of education, whereas for others it has consisted in a place of reproduction of previous social inequalities, through pedagogical actions strengthening the symbolic violence expressed by Bourdieu. The analysis of graduates’ life trajectory demonstrated that social mobility has occurred in horizontal and intergenerational terms, by the increase of the education level between generations and by the improvement of their living conditions. The study reveled that access to higher education, provided by ProUni, has given opportunity to most graduates to change their trajectories, generating processes of upward social mobility. However, these changes cannot be generalized. Although the access to academic titles has fostered the creation of new dispositions through university environment and its socialization, some graduates reported the feeling of frustration regarding their academic formation and their reduced social mobility.