“It's Not a Bairro, is It?”: Subsistence Sociability and Focused Avoidance in a Public Housing Estate

Abstract

This paper draws on a multidisciplinary study of state policy, housing provision, and the social question in Porto, Portugal, over the past half century, combining ethnography, in-depth interviews, and a survey of local families. It examines the trajectory of one of the city's largest and most notorious public housing estates to map out how transformations in its social composition and in the mix of state action have affected how residents deal with the disparaging public image attached to their place of residence. Against analytical simplification, we spotlight responses to territorial stigmatization that muddle the 'exit-voice' or 'conformity-rejection' dichotomies and reveal the social parameters that determine the symbolic boundaries, sociability patterns, and daily faceto-face interactions found in this housing estate. Strategies of 'subsistence sociability' and 'focused avoidance' have enabled local families to cope with the spatial taint hovering over their bairro while avoiding both the high costs of exit and the uncertain investment in collective action.

Constructing social identity through multiple “us and them”: a grounded theory study of how contextual factors are manifested in the lives of residents of a vulnerable district in Brazil

“…In the present analysis, from an individual level perspective, family ties were described as a source of emotional, financial, instrumental support that can affect several determinants of health; from a collective level perspective, social cohesion is lacking in the community. Pereira and Queiros [49] has also indicated privatization of public spaces, the avoidance of common areas and the elaboration of micro differences in a similar settlement, in Porto, Portugal. Thus, we stress that the predominance of family ties (i.e., bonding social capita) has important implications in the future assessment of social capital and in the interpretation of its effects on health in different settings.…”

“…Studies on the effects of territorial segregation and stigmatization on health adds another relative dimension to the discussion about the effects of neighborhood deprivation on health [45][46][47][48][49][50]. These studies have highlighted the relevance of neighborhoods beyond the physical and social conditions within a geographical area, bringing the notion that neighborhoods, like individuals are positioned and further differentiated in the social space in relation to other areas.…”

Neighborhood reputations as symbolic and stratifying mechanisms in the urban hierarchy

“…Those who acknowledge their neighborhood's negative image may disassociate themselves from it, asserting that they do not contribute to it. Some employ a related distancing strategy, limiting their interactions within the neighborhood and retreating into their homes (Garthwaite & Bambra, 2018; Graham et al, 2016; Kelaher et al, 2010; Pereira & Queiros, 2014; Pinkster, 2014; Wanka, 2018). Another coping mechanism entails the construction of micro‐reputations at a more granular scale, enabling people to point to other streets in the neighborhood which are worse than their own (Arthurson, 2013; Bush et al, 2001; Pinkster, 2014).…”

From environmental stress to spatial expulsion - rethinking concepts of socio-spatial exclusion in later life

“…One of the strategies that is particularly important to discuss is that of retreat into the private sphere. Pereira and Queirós (2014), for example, found this strategy to be deployed by residents of a public housing estate Figure 2. Strategies to cope with territorial stigma (Wacquant et al 2014).…”