Sociogenesis of the Artistic Vocation. The Study of Art Between Dispositions and Aspirations.

This research explores the relationship among the dynamics of the process of family and educational socialization and the development of aesthetic dispositions by means of a qualitative perspective with in-depth interviews and focus groups. The research takes place in, private and public, secondary art schools in Milan. I want to define art in the space of educational choices. Young pupils’ choice to study the plastic art represents the primary interest in this research. What are the meanings of this scholastic choice? What are the scholastic and family dynamics that emerge in this process? How does act the representations, logics and attitudes about both art and school of the students and their parents and teachers? These are the main questions which my work attempts to answer through the conceptual tool of cultural capital and looking at the studies about the sociology of culture and, in particular, the sociology of education, art, cultural practices and the youth studies. I study the meanings of this choice, the representations and attitudes, both art and school, of the students and their parents, as well as the aspirations and ambitions on the future. I will investigate the school choice and the artistic aspiration as classed concepts. I want to consider how the educational and professional aspirations are linked to class identity and to neoliberal order. I want to explore the class differences in the way in which students, and their parents, oriented themselves towards artistic educational routes and professional futures. The artistic pathway is problematized as atypical, an “against the grain” choice. In sum, I will explore the role of secondary art school to reproduce the social differences in terms of educational and professional aspirations.