School-Mediated Affective Class Reorientation In Childhood: A Theoretical Reading Of Annie Ernaux’s Les Armoires Vides
Theory, Research and Discussions in Social Sciences, Humanities and Administrative Sciences, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Türker BATMAZ, Editör, Duvar Yayınları, İzmir, ss.103-124, 2026
- Yayın Türü: Kitapta Bölüm / Araştırma Kitabı
- Basım Tarihi: 2026
- Yayınevi: Duvar Yayınları
- Basıldığı Şehir: İzmir
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.103-124
- Editörler: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Türker BATMAZ, Editör
- Açık Arşiv Koleksiyonu: AVESİS Açık Erişim Koleksiyonu
- Akdeniz Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
This article develops a theoretical sociological reading of Annie Ernaux’s Les Armoires vides by conceptualizing class formation as a process of schoolmediated affective reorientation in childhood and early adolescence. Moving beyond structural accounts of social reproduction and retrospective autobiographical interpretations of class, the study argues that class is actively produced through institutional encounters that progressively reorganize language, emotion, and perception over time. In this sense, the article positions Ernaux’s literary text not as a narrative of individual social mobility, but as a sociological site in which the micro-processes of class formation become analytically observable. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of cultural reproduction and Sara Ahmed’s affect theory, the article proposes that schooling functions as an affective institution where subjectivity is reshaped through three interrelated mechanisms: linguistic correction and the regulation of classed speech, affective inversion between familiarity and shame, and the institutional gaze that produces symbolic misplacement. These mechanisms are conceptualized as cumulative and temporally structured processes through which class difference is internalized at the level of affect, language, and bodily perception. Rather than operating as discrete events, they form a continuous trajectory of reorientation that gradually aligns subjects with dominant institutional norms while simultaneously producing experiences of dislocation. Methodologically, the study employs a qualitative close reading of Ernaux’s novel as a theoretical case study. Instead of aiming for generalization across Ernaux’s oeuvre or empirical validation across educational contexts, it focuses on a single text in order to trace how affective and institutional dynamics are embedded in narrative form and literary structure. This approach treats literary analysis as a mode of sociological inquiry, where narrative form becomes a site for reconstructing social processes. The article contributes to sociological theories of class reproduction by foregrounding their affective and temporal dimensions, particularly in relation to early institutional experiences. It extends Bourdieu-inspired approaches by emphasizing how symbolic violence is not only structurally reproduced but also emotionally and temporally lived through schooling. In addition, it contributes to Ernaux scholarship by shifting attention from autobiographical representation and transclass identity narratives to the micro-processes of subject formation within institutional life. In doing so, the article offers a conceptual framework for understanding class formation as an affective and institutional process operating through cumulative educational experience.
Keywords: Annie Ernaux; class formation; affect theory; education; subjectivity; symbolic violence