Dados é uma das principais e mais longevas publicações nas ciências sociais no Brasil. Criada em 1966, divulga trabalhos inéditos e inovadores, oriundos de pesquisa acadêmica, de autores brasileiros e estrangeiros. Editada pelo IESP-UERJ, é seu objetivo conciliar o rigor científico e a excelência acadêmica com ênfase no debate público a partir da análise de questões substantivas da sociedade e da política.
Dados vol. 31 n. 2 Rio de Janeiro 1988
Resumo
The purpose of this article is to ascertain the efficiency of the concept of social class in urban research and to propose some prospects for renewing its efficaciousness in the study of present social and urban changes. An examination of past research reveals four positive potential applications: in studying the structuring of social differences rather than dealing in homogenizing designations such as "urban dweller", "users", or "populations"; in studying the connections between production and consumption rather than separating these; in resituating the analysis of urban social struggles within broader contradictions; and in analyzing the issues of urban production and of the state socialization of consumption. The cumulative effects of the economic crisis, intellectual changes, and the left's political and ideological crisis have led some to reject the concept of social class and to ignore the results obtained. But these crises can also have positive effects insofar as they question certain false evidence and dogmatic inflexibility. This theoretical exploration works in many directions. Economic changes make it necessary to study the effects that such conflictive processes (which are the definition of new technologies and new work relations) have on the definition of social classes and class relations. But transformations in social structures and ways of life now underway also have their own effects. This analysis is thus directed towards a conceptual complexification wherein classes are no longer considered to constitute concrete groups defined once and for all but rather to represent complex historical processes which contain simultaneous movements toward fragmentation- and unification. Analysis of urban changes makes its contribution by defining not only forms of spatial reorganization of the economy and of social structures but also their political effects on relations between groups and on forms or representation and hegemony.
O Conceito de Classe Social na Pesquisa Urbana
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