Neurosis de Clase en las Escuelas Secundarias Chilenas: Abajismo, Arribismo y Negación Identitaria

This study explored how notions of socioeconomic class appeared in the discourses and practices of students, teachers and administrators, in three Chilean high schools from different socioeconomic levels. Data comes from a larger ethnographic study of discourses and practices of citizenship in these schools. Students approached their social class from a denial or misrecognition standpoint, involving themselves in the practice of arribismo or abajismo, to appear as belonging to an upper or lower social class, respectively. This can be understood as a form of Class Neurosis (De Gaulejac, 2000), involving feelings of guilt, inferiority and rejection linked to social origin. These phenomena were promoted through the school culture and the discourse from adults, which interpellated students´ subjectivity, whose practices included code-switching and a vigilance of themselves and their classmates. The study showed how schools help maintain the social structure through complacency with the meritocratic promise, affecting how students see themselves as part of their communities, how they build expectations about the future, and how they understand that they can become civically engaged.