A gramática do social: considerações sobre os atuais processos de construção de hegemonia na cidade do Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

This research investigates conceptual contributions that support the practices of the various subjects that structure the field of popular struggles for the realization of human rights in the city of Rio de Janeiro. This topic becomes relevant since a repertoire repeatedly features in discourses, public notices and published works of scholars, private institutions and non-profit organisations, both engaged in activities in Rio’s ‘favelas’ (slums). This repertoire is a set of concepts that have explanatory power. It also organises one’s understanding of the real, playing, therefore, an epistemological role. We refer to this repertoire as the grammar of the society, with a special focus on two concepts: protagonism and empowerment, due to their importance, recurrence and strategic role. Given the central aspect of the culture, these concepts have also a pivotal role in understanding new approaches to cultural activism’s promotion, which would allow us to redefine the resistance and the processes of struggle. Those concepts are not ‘natives’ to the territories in which the mentioned organisations are active. They are developed by a network of funding partners that inherently have a methodological and theoretical bias, known as think tanks. This research looked at published works of three think tanks: ActionAid, Fundação Ford e CDDRL (Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law). The latter belongs to the Stanford University, where Francis Fukuyama is currently a rector. From a liberal standpoint, this work outlines the extent to which the concept of social capital is updated and how it emerges as a functionality to sociability among young people in Rio’s favelas, especially with regards to protagonism and empowerment. Modern and diverse approaches from bourgeoisie groups affect the way questions related to the human rights violation are framed and how they are solved in the ordinary lives of the subordinated population through their private apparatus of dominance.