This article presents partial findings of research that aimed at analyzing the sense of respect in students in a public school in São Paulo, Brazil. Storytelling and the production of stories were used as methodological strategies. This was an intervention research theoretically and methodologically grounded on historical-cultural psychology, particularly on Vygotsky's concept of imagination. The research subjects were students in the 6th year of elementary school, in three classes, each with approximately 30 subjects aged 12-13 years. Fourteen meetings were held with each class. Each meeting involved several activities: storytelling followed by group discussion and the production of oral and written stories by the subjects. The themes for stories were selected from suggestions of the subjects. In this study, we only considered the written stories of the subjects as an information source. The results indicated that a contradiction between the school investment to establish respect and the manner in which the school-related issues are solved, emphasizing punishment while slightly promoting reflection and dialogue. The results also indicated a perception of the students that physical strength is a way of enforcing respect and that there is economic status-related moral superiority. It was concluded from this study that the majority of the indicators that promote and maintain the setting of meanings about respect at school refer to external possibilities of action or regulation of the subject and that economic power and fear imposition are the main aspects underlying the sense of respect in the researched subjects.
Historical-Cultural Psychology; Adolescence; Senses; Imagination; Respect