Power in the streets of Cuauhtémoc : violence, public space, social capital and discrimination

Abstract

What is it like to live in Cuauhtémoc, the so-called heart of the country? Unlike major trends in general research, the analysis of specific cases allows us to understand more broadly social logics that include both the individual and society. Based on this perspective, we present an approach to problems of everyday life faced by the inhabitants of the borough of Cuauhtémoc in Mexico City. This research gathered and analyzed the stories of three people who live in situations that are different yet the same insofar as they are inhabitants of the same place and at the same time. It is not necessarily the case that the borough of Cuauhtémoc, as the symbolic and political center of both the city and the country, represents a microcosm of dynamics that are more widespread in Mexico City or Mexico as a whole. Nevertheless, in this urban space there occur expressions of sociability that help to understand how the frameworks of coexistence are built and operate.