Girls’ style and identity constitution within the school system
In the present research it is analyzed the way girls’ negotiate their style within the school system. Although girls are perceived, in “common sense”, as passive, through negotiating their style they achieve agenticness and subjectivity. Through interviews and participant observation I show the importance of something seemingly insignificant. Within schools there are written and unwritten rules. Some girls choose to obey them and some to defy them. What does this mean for their agency? Can they constitute themselves if they are part of the norm or if they are out of it? Furthermore, I analyze style as a constitutive factor in the formation of groups. Do the similar attract each other and drive away the “different”? Finally, I examine how girls achieve recognition through style and form their subjectivities. This research gives a glimpse to the inside of girls’ everyday school life, how they define themselves and others, how they form groups and all the aforementioned always in accordance with style.