Approccio biografico e disuguaglianze educative. Cornici teoriche, pratiche di ricerca, spazi di riflessività

The biographical approach has a long-standing tradition in social research. Beginning with the empirical investigations conducted in the early decades of the last century by scholars of the Chicago School, life histories have become widely recognised as legitimate tools for studying social reality. This article, through the presentation of biographical research on the school and university experiences of working-class students, highlights the potential of biographical material for analysing educational inequalities. After a theoretical and methodological discussion of the biographical approach, and a critical analysis of its research practices, this contribution shows how a more systematic use of biographical material in educational studies not only enables a deeper understanding of the mechanisms of social reproduction at work in the educational field, but also contributes to the construction of an alternative to the technocratic governance of education.