Urban and racial segregation in São Paulo

Maria Nilza Silva, Université de l'Etat de Londrina et Université Catholique de Sao Paulo

Bearing in mind the present situation of the black population in Brazil and the disadvantages they experience in all social aspects, such as employment, income, education, health, and so on, and taking into account the importance of the place and territory occupied by these people in the city, the objective of this research was to analyze the social relations and the process of sociability of the negro in the city of São Paulo. With the use of statistical data and interviews held in the central and peripheral regions of the city, the research showed that social relations and the process of sociability are affected by the influences exercised by the occupied territories. The inhabitants of the poor regions, with a higher proportion of negroes, face difficulties to develop more intense relations due to poverty and, mainly, to the fear of violence.