Descrição
The empirical analysis of the invisible reproduction of social and spatial inequalities in Brazilian cities demands a specific approach. The following article highlights this approach while taking a critical view on a geography of social inequality. It intends to conceptually contribute to the ongoing research into the causes of perpetuating injustices and examining space as a powerful factor in the reproduction of social inequality. This approach, which is one of hermeneutical geography, aims to understand the structure of the city in its social construction. Taking the idiographic example of Salvador in Brazil background knowledge was acquired following the principles of grounded theory. The approach should be seen as a transferable concept also applicable to other metropolises and societies that are part of the so called “modern periphery” (SOUZA 2000, 2006). The “modern periphery” is characterized by hidden mechanisms perpetuating the logic of social domination and subordination. The specific geographical focus of this approach is to understand the fragmented and divided urban space, coming from different social dispositions. This shall be examined at the example of the social construction and meaning of the favelas.||Para a análise empírica do fenômeno da reprodução invisível das desigualdades sociais e espaciais nas cidades brasileiras, elaborou-se a proposta, aqui apresentada, de uma geografía da desigualdade social, a fim de embasar uma investigação das desigualdades, destacando o espaço como força poderosa no processo de reprodução social. Trata-se de uma geografía urbana hermenêutica, no sentido de entender a textura da cidade em sua construção social. O conceito foi operacionalizado a partir do exemplo idiográfico da cidade de Salvador-BA, com o intuito de disponibilizar um modelo operacional e aplicável também a outras metrópoles, tanto no Brasil como em outras formações sociais caraterizadas por mecanismos ocultos que disfarçam e perpetuam a lógica da dominação social, as sociedades da chamada “perifería da modernidade”, segundo o sociólogo brasileiro Jessé Souza (2000, 2006). O papel da Geografia nessa perspectiva é o de buscar compreender a textura urbana fragmentada e dividida pelas disposições sociais, a partir do exame do fenômeno específico das favelas.
Abstract
GEOGRAPHY OF SOCIAL INEQUALITY: APPROACH FOR A CRITICAL URBAN GEOGRAPHY PRESENTED BY THE SOCIAL PRODUCTION OF THE FAVELA IN SALVADOR (BAHIA)
The empirical analysis of the invisible reproduction of social and spatial inequalities in Brazilian cities demands a specific approach. The following article highlights this approach while taking a critical view on a geography of social inequality. It intends to conceptually contribute to the ongoing research into the causes of perpetuating injustices and examining space as a powerful factor in the reproduction of social inequality. This approach, which is one of hermeneutical geography, aims to understand the structure of the city in its social construction. Taking the idiographic example of Salvador in Brazil background knowledge was acquired following the principles of grounded theory. The approach should be seen as a transferable concept also applicable to other metropolises and societies that are part of the so called “modern periphery” (SOUZA 2000, 2006). The “modern periphery” is characterized by hidden mechanisms perpetuating the logic of social domination and subordination. The specific geographical focus of this approach is to understand the fragmented and divided urban space, coming from different social dispositions. This shall be examined at the example of the social construction and meaning of the favelas.
