School climate and violence in a university environment: between prevention and promotion of cultures of peace

Abstract The study is based on several interpretative categories inspired by sociological paradigms that allow us to interpret the external conditioning factors of violence (in a structural perspective), as well as those found in the attitudes, values, and beliefs in people’s daily lives (cultural perspective). The research objectives are to investigate the deterioration of the quality of the relations that occur between professors and students and student-student relationships, as well as that of the institution and its representatives with these two social actors. Reference here is made not so much physical violence, but rather symbolic violence. The methodology involves interviewing students and professors from two universities: one Italian and one Brazilian. The results point to the presence of forms of violence in the academic life of both institutions in the three subject areas, and in general these are expressed in a rather veiled way, especially in the form of symbolic violence.