From Individual Need to Community Consciousness

Abstract

This article analyzes the processes and stages through which individual actions undertaken to fulfill housing needs are transformed into collective actions when a group of individuals becomes aware of the scope and implications of its organization and participation in this endeavor and problematizes what it had assumed was "natural" about living in poverty. The author describes the stages of transforming an urban slum into an organized community, a process that includes the construction, improvement, and consolidation of people's dwellings; the provision of infrastructure, utilities, and facilities; and the evolution of social relations and the development of a sense of community that leads its members to seek collective solutions to their problems, demand respect for citizen's rights, and design strategies to fight for their achievement. These stages are based on information obtained from in-depth interviews with a sample composed of men and women residing in a Venezuelan barrio.