Participação social, território e vulnerabilidade social na cidade de Lavras-MG

Abstract

The social and economic conditions may represent obstacles to the political and participatory engagement, because social vulnerability is about individuals and groups in a condition of fragility in the face of risks produced by the social and economic context, which in turn may be related to levels and ways of social participation. The purpose of this study is to think about the events and conditions of the relations between social vulnerability and social participation, in order to understand if the phenomenon of social vulnerability influences the neighborhood residents' behavior in order to present their demands to the State. This qualitative and exploratory and descriptive study took as study object the reality of the city of Lavras, medium-sized, south of Minas Gerais. A more in depth understanding of the relations between the variables influencing social participation contributes to the recognition of different strategies of access to the State, as well as facilitating the expansion of its participatory spaces and instances of reception and treatment of social demands. The results point to a trend in which more vulnerable territories present more difficulty in effecting their demands and in keeping dialogue with the State. It is also possible to observe that the more distant a neighborhood is from the state, the more contestatory forms make up its ways of collective action, while the less vulnerable and closer to the State tend to act through collective organizations.