‘Troubled lads’ . Schools between pathologization,lads’ culture and social suffering in Rome

Abstract

The article analyses the conflicts that arise between students and educational institutions within the context of technical and vocational training. Drawing on an ethnographic study conducted in three all-male, ‘last chance,’ working-class schools on the outskirts of Rome, it explores how these spaces are shaped by perceptions of cultural and racial stigma, often reinforced by biological assumptions. The article first examines the heightened sensitivity of the students to their position within the educational space and, in the second part, explores how these perceptions are exacerbated by a pathological common sense. The role of medical discourse in the pathologization of individual behavior will be analyzed, with particular attention to the symbolic violence involved and the progressive blurring of the boundaries between educational and medical discourses. Finally, I argue that hereditary, biological, and racist frameworks—far from being eliminated—continue to permeate educational processes, leading to a new resurgence of these issues.