Self-images of school dropout in Barcelona: analysis from system justification theory

Sociocognitive theories assume that group membership has a direct impact on social identity. Vulnerable groups can develop different strategies to lessen the psychological discomfort caused by disadvantageous social membership. Some of these mechanisms operate by validating the social order. This article shows how implicit self-stereotypes operate in a group of students who have dropped out of school. The approach is qualitative based on these young people's discourses on their educational trajectories, their school experiences and their reasons for dropping out. The analysis allows self-stereotypical elements with repercussions at the level of social justification to be identified and is complemented by a brief sociodemographic description to characterize the group in terms of their social disadvantage.