A propósito da produção do território. : Sociologia urbana e relações de poder na estruturação do território como representação política e científica

• Main Author: Tiago Castro Lemos
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade do Porto 2012-01-01
• Series: Sociologia: Revista da Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto
• Subjects: Urban sociology; Territory; Scientific field; Political field
• Online Access: http://ler.letras.up.pt/uploads/ficheiros/10295.pdf

From a reflection about some data that outline the social conditions of urban sociology production, we attempt to illustrate how this area of knowledge is associated with the construction and generalization of political and scientific (di)visions of territory. By one hand we find the field of social sciences where different disciplines fight for a point of view determination and autonomy about urban territory. On the other hand, we find a network of complicity between the political power field and the field of social sciences, represented by sociology, where the first one try to impose an accurate social (di)vision of the territory, whereas the second one try to stabilize the disciplinary practice as a legitimate procedure. In both fields we find a quest for the imposition of a truth (scientific and political) on the territory, from which conceals the arbitrariness of the boundaries that limit the territory as an element of political and scientific interest.