HAPPY AND HEALTHY FAMILIES! MATHEMATICS TEXTBOOKS AND THE MAKING OF SUBJECTS

Abstract

In this article, we aim to analyze representations of families in Brazilian high school mathematics textbooks, to describe the making of subjects. For that, we have analyzed images contained in financial mathematics activities, present in the books approved by the Brazilian National Textbook Program, in 2015. For that exercise of thought we have used Stuart Hall's contributions about representation, as well Foucauldian tools, such as discourse analysis and the constitution of the subject. Through the analysis, we conclude that there are regularities in the representations, in which we have founded a connection between the ideas of "good” economic practices and financial "health". What these representations seem to suggest is that, if the instructions contained in the images, a financial "healthy" life will be achieved. This representation goes through understanding family as company that it produces human capital, constituting each member as a self-entrepreneur who is responsible for the success or failure of this company-family. These representations also seem linked to the idea of economic success for happiness. Those activities subjective students, which are educated to be inserted in a society governed by neoliberal policies.