Resume of “Researching social stratification in large urban zones today”
By: Juan_José Villalón_Ogáyar
I have just published a new paper. The title is: “Researching Social Stratification in Large Urban Zones Today” In Public Spaces: Times of Crisis and Change. Research in Urban Sociology, Volume 15, 289_318 Published online: 07 Nov 2016; 289-318.)
You can find here:
The permanent link to this document:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/S1047-004220160000015012
Abstract
The current state of globalisation is aggravating the inequalities within globalised cities, and generating a high degree of conflict. If we seek to find out to what extent ghettos, agents in conflict or if there is a situation of unsustainable imbalance caused by this degree of inequality, we should consider the objective data and the social consciousness of stratification enclosed in social interaction of the people living in neighbourhoods in global cities. This chapter explains how we can study this topic with an example: a town into Metropolitan Area of Madrid in 2012, with a theoretical perspective that ask about how is the human space today and how everybody builds his social identification, and a methodology that uses the Problem-Centred Interview to collect data. From this perspective, it is discussed if the new urban social structure tends to be dual or fragmented. When it is studied the social awareness, it may be understood that urban people tend to develop fragmented identities today based into consume and family that joint everyone with other by small groups or weak bonds. However, into a poor urban area, there are other boundaries that a lot of people recognize based into class and ethnic differences that mean polarization and conflict but these ones only work in particular problematic situations. So, the image of system of stratification in large cities appears as a dynamic thing, under the influence of a series of different factors which are not only global but local too.