“Lá em cima e cá embaixo”: percepções dos sujeitos da Vitória e Gamboa de Baixo sobre as desigualdades socioespaciais em Salvador- BA

Abstract

This doctoral thesis investigates urban sociospatial inequality in the city of Salvador (Bahia, Brazil), based on the analysis of the perceptions of different social actors who experience daily life in two emblematic territories of the metropolis: the Vitória neighborhood, characterized by high income levels and advanced infrastructure, and the Gamboa de Baixo community, marked by urban precariousness and historical exclusion. Grounded in a critical Marxist perspective, sociospatial inequality is understood here as a concrete manifestation of socioeconomic inequality, produced and reproduced by the logic of the capitalist mode of production, whose structural contradictions shape urban space by generating privileged centralities and marginalized peripheries. This is a qualitative research, based on triangulation between semi-structured interviews, documentary analysis, and theoretical-conceptual review. Eighteen social actors (residents, workers, entrepreneurs, and institutional managers) who live or work in the two territories were interviewed. The content analysis of the interviews revealed contrasting perceptions regarding belonging, identity, exclusion, access to rights, and responsibilities for urban inequalities. The dominant class tends to naturalize inequality and attribute responsibility to individuals or the State, legitimizing the elitist appropriation of urban space. Workers, although aware of the inequalities, often lack understanding of their structural causes, limiting their actions to claims for specific rights. The State, in turn, appears in the narratives as either absent or complicit in processes that reinforce sociospatial segregation The thesis confirms that urban inequalities in Salvador are the result of a broader sociohistorical process, whose roots lie in the structures of capital, in the mechanisms of elite urban reproduction, and in the inadequacy of inclusive public policies. The research contributes to the understanding of the multiple dimensions of urban sociospatial inequality by articulating critical theory, empirical analysis, and the sensitive listening of social subjects. By shedding light on the perceptions of those who experience the unequal city, this study aims to foster reflections on the right to the city, urban justice, and social transformation.