Work groups are part of the main informal school life-stirring factors in Senegal. Though they are at the core of socializing activities in high school education, they have never been studied on a sociological basis. Nevertheless, one has to admit that in the past years, they have become simultaneous and alternative to official and regular transmission of education contents due to the ever growing incapacity of school to take on this essential mission of students' supervision. Qualitative and quantitative surveys carried towards 110 work groups show that these groups are where gender-related practices start off. Two socializing models, introverted and extroverted, regulate social activities and school and professional projects. The model we shall call "introverted" lead girls, one the one hand, to a limited use of school sociability activities in order to favor their matrimonial project and short-term trainings. On the other hand, boys in this model are encouraged to build on a strong school and professional project. This thesis study questions the on-going transformations in the Senegalese socializing trends, that can be partly explained by the access of women to modern employment sectors. This feminine presence on the employment market doesn't trigger necessarily a negotiation in parental terms. The study of the work groups' role in school success show that disadvantaged social groups benefit a lot from socializing activities through access to a social space prone to school and professional vocations.
