Socialization and poweron the field of street people in the city of São Paulo

Abstract

The paper understands the homeless population as a field. Thus, it pursues specificities of their capital, struggles due to power differential between them, inherited rules of the field and the agent’s habitus. The core of Bourdieu’s theory is always at service to understand how the schemes of domination and symbolic power are structured within society. The task of applying his theory to homeless in São Paulo starts by defining it as a field, then analyzing specific empirical data to understand part of their symbolic goods. In conclusion, the study indicates some variables that define the inculcated system of dispositions, with rules ranging from body codes, concentration density point, access to public services’, as important factors of distinction and resistance to institutionalization.