The Metamorphosis of Marginality: Four Generations in the Favelas of Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

This article is based on a four-generational study of residents in three squatter communities (favelas) in Rio de Janeiro from 1968 to 2003. It shows how the marginalization of the urban poor has deepened over the past thirty-five years through drug-related violence, the failure of democracy to deliver on its promise of voice for the disenfranchised, the stigma of place and race, the increase in unemployment, and the inability to translate educational gains into concomitant income or occupational gains. Despite significant improvements in consumption of collective urban services, household goods, and schooling, few have been successful enough to move into “good neighborhoods” or into professional jobs. Gang violence creates a pervasive sense of fear and diminishes the social capital of the communities. Despite the promise of the end of the dictatorship in 1984, favela residents feel they are more excluded. Yet they still have hope that their lives will improve in the future.