Conflicts in social management of the territory: an analysis through the organization of islets in Porto Alegre

Abstract

This paper analyzes the relationship between conflicts and the emergence of a social organization that seeks to tackle social management procedures in the territory. It starts from the discussion on social management, as the possibility of a public management, not belonging to the State, which takes place in the public sphere. The analysis includes the dimension of conflict and the ability of individuals to go beyond the formal spaces towards organized efforts for social management of the territory. The study conducted in the islands of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, reveals the practice of social management through an organization inherent to the community that is born amid a series of conflicts and, why not saying it, because of them. The social management concerns actions taken by the community to achieve various purposes (redistribution, recognition, respect, and autonomy) and they are not restricted to participation in formal spaces, such as councils and representation bodies; also, it is not the interconnection between formally constituted actors or institutionalized social movements. It goes further to include informal resources, such as manifestations, outcries, symbolic actions, political contacts. Indeed, it is not limited to the participation granted, but also represents the conquered one that overcomes the fragmentation of formal public spaces to represent something in motion, but established on the basis of a territory. It is, therefore, a "social management of the territory" taking place in the spaces, between them, and through them.

Keywords:
Social Management; Conflict; Public Sphere; Social Organization; Territory