Relegation, movements, conflict. Notes to think urban social question in contemporary Argentine

Abstract

This paper addresses the ‘‘social question’’ and the problem of inequality in contemporary Argentine. It is based on a qualitative research on processes of territorial and socio-economic relegation in the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires city and the way they shape the identity of its inhabitants. In particular, it focuses on ‘‘recuperadores urbanos de residuos’’ (impoverished trash pickers who pick garbage
that can be sold and recycled) and the type of exchanges in which they engage in their movements –usually conflictive– along the urban space. These movements from ‘‘confined’’ areas, together with the
social relations they promote between different social sectors, shed light on the workings of a society increasingly defined by social differentiation.