The starting point of this thesis is the debate that surrounds affirmative action policy concerning African descendants, and students coming from public schools, in the state of Rio de Janeiro. In the context of this debate, the role of written culture is considered within the project of becoming a university student. Steering clear of deficit ideology, this thesis aims at confronting the discussion about inequalities determined by the Brazilian educational system, specifically concerning the relationship between the popular classes and written culture. Interviews and participant observations were carried out in two universities, one of them public and the other private. A process of immersion in a low-income community was carried out, as well as investigation of three educational spaces engaged in movements of inclusion and permanence of these groups in the university: a community admission examinations preparation course and two projects developed in the universities, the objective of which is to minimize the specific difficulties regarding reading and writing presented by members of these groups. Working with the concept of reading and writing as social practice, the research points to the formative dimension of university, less as a result of specific pedagogic strategies than through socialization processes in a community of readers composed of literate teachers and a propitious environment. The university is shown to be an advantageous space for the acquisition of the habitus of these practices, their gestures and objects, which comprise a characteristic kind of sociability that, unfortunately, for various reasons, is not satisfactorily accomplished during elementary and secondary education.