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From Columbine to Suzano: a socio-historical analysis of school shootings

Abstract

Despite the eleven school shootings registered in Brazil, academic debate on the subject is still scarce. This essay sought to identify the historical-social categories that inform the offenders’ singularity. We consulted media materials about the Brazilian shootings and the categories found in the international literature. Based on a Marxist analysis, we highlight the social, historical and material conditions of the attacks. Male socialization, association with far-right groups and reproduced structural violence emerge as fundamental historical-social configurations. Moreover, job precarization and the assimilation of the neoliberal individual aggravate the split between collective and private dimensions, producing subjects that use market competitiveness as a measure for other relations. The precarization of public school makes it a target of attacks due to the break it establishes between the subject, education and work.

Keywords:
school; violence; materialism

Instituto de Psicologia da Universidade de São Paulo Av. Prof. Mello Moraes, 1721 - Bloco A, sala 202, Cidade Universitária Armando de Salles Oliveira, 05508-900 São Paulo SP - Brazil - São Paulo - SP - Brazil
E-mail: revpsico@usp.br