Tão próximos e tão distantes: indivíduo e pessoa nas relações dentro de um edifício residencial

Abstract

This dissertation is a study in urban anthropology about the relations between residents and between residents and employees in two residential buildings in the areas of Maracanã and Grajaú. The objective was to demonstrate the meanings underlying the use of the notions of the individual and of the person, of individualism and of hierarchy, in each one of these relationship contexts. There were applied seven semi-structured interviews with men and women from urban middle classes. The meanings suggested by the residents pointed to the existence of a tension between the notions of public and private, cordialness and impersonality in the ways of classifying oneself and others in the different interactions under diverse circumstances inside the building. The statements of the interviewees granted prominence to the relations established between them and your own employees instead of the employees from other residents. In this case they granted prominence to the operation of ways of classifying in which prevailed hierarchy and subordination, from the part of the residents, and means of agency, from the part of the emplyees.