Notes on Social Conditions, Rights and Violence in Brazilian Cities

ABSTRACT This article discusses transformations in social conditions, rights and urban violence in Brazil, especially in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Poverty, social inequalities and violence are constitutive of Brazilian cities, and many interpretations in the literature suggest that these elements vary together in a homogeneous way. Recent broad changes, however, indicate divergent processes pointing in different directions. Economic and political transformations, as well as public policy reforms, have expanded social welfare, income and access to services, especially for the poor. On the other hand, urban violence has increased intensely, hitting the lower classes in particular. Even taking into consideration the Brazilian crisis since 2015, the balance of the three decades after the return to democracy is of reduced poverty and recombined but smaller inequalities, while at the same time, urban violence has disseminated heterogeneously. This article discusses these sometimes incongruent processes, viewed from the perspective of the contradictory construction of citizenship in contemporary Brazil.