The space of the unwanted: the circularity of stigma representation in a shopping center in Porto Alegre

Abstract

This article comes from an ethnographic study about the construction of social representations in the context of a commercial center in Porto Alegre, where the acquaintanceship of different groups reveals stigmatized notions of common sense, which incorporates themselves to the organizational culture. One of the first findings is that the organization suffers the influence of representations that circulate in society which can identify groups that converge to the space as “good goers” and “bad goers”. It is noticed that the organization produces new representations, sometimes full of negative and stigmatizing significations, what configures hierarchies of symbolic power among its goers. Equally, society produces representations about the space and its goers that integrates common sense notions and influences organizational performance. Finally, this work intends to contribute to the studies of cultural organization, as it reveals social representations that are fundamental to construction of speeches and institutionalization of organizational practices.