Virgílio Borges Pereira

Society, Space and the Effects of Place: Theoretical Notes and Results of a Sociological Research on Social Housing in the City of Porto

Based on Bourdieu’s sociological work, this chapter lists a brief set of conditions to promote sociological research on the relations between society and space. Making use of a socio-genetic approach and of the dense objectivation of the relations between physical space, social space and lifestyles, the text discusses the importance of “the effects of place” as a relevant aspect of the structuration of contemporary cities. Under this framework, the text documents some results of a sociological research on social housing in the city of Porto, in Portugal. It studies the genesis of the most striking social housing programme in the city in the 20th century, and considers the requirements of its implementation in the first bairro to be built, Bairro do Bom Sucesso. Through the study of the configuration of the social space of this neighbourhood in 2009, the text highlights the importance of non-linear readings of social housing contexts.

Voices in the revolution: Resisting territorial stigma and social relegation in Porto’s historic centre (1974–1976)

This article tries to broaden the research agenda on territorial stigmatisation. It reviews some theoretical arguments on the relevance of a relational sociological reading of the processes of territorial stigmatisation, and proposes a study of these processes during a period of political revolution and social instability, through discussion of the case presented by the city of Porto, Portugal, in the mid-1970s. Based on the study of institutional archives, ethnographic work in several neighbourhoods, and semi-structured interviews with social actors involved in these processes, the article describes the urban and housing conditions of inner city Porto’s working-class boroughs in the first three quarters of the 20th century and discusses the forms of political and social resistance taken up by residents from the most dilapidated neighbourhoods following the revolution of April 1974. The sociological analysis of the actions that gave origin to the voice of the residents in the historic centre of the city in this period reveals significant interaction with the processes of territorial stigmatisation, via organised collective resistance.

Urban Distinctions: Class, Culture and Sociability in the City of Porto: URBAN DISTINCTIONS: Class, Culture and Sociability in the City of Porto

This essay employs Pierre Bourdieus theory of practice and the methodology of Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) to extend the mapping of the dynamic relations between class and culture presented in Bourdieus Distinction to encompass urban space, drawing on data from a multi†method research project on the city of Porto, Portugal. We present a detailed analysis of the formation and structure of local social space and show its relevance for the study of the (re)production of urban lifestyles. Differences in the volume and composition of the capital of city residents are identified and shown to underpin the relations between social positions, dispositions and position takings in various realms of cultural consumption. Meaningful configurations of ‘lifestyle modalities’ have clear roots in the citys social space, which in Portugal, as in France, can be interpreted in terms of distinction, pretension and necessity.