Experiencias del bienestar. Para una comprensión de la política social desde el sentido común

Abstract

Getting a job, drinking water, a bag of foodstuffs, an appointment with a doctor, a place to live, or a place for your kid in the best public school of your neighborhood: those are all significant challenges facing neighbors of the cities’ slums in our region. These challenges unveil two socio-political phenomena: the unequal structure that shapes the living standards of these neighbors and their concrete practices of social reproduction. In between, the common sense –a sort of experiential knowledge– operates both to tackle those challenges and to heal symbolically the fractures of an unequal society. This essay seeks to understand these neighbors’ “experiences of welfare,” that is, a cluster of thoughtful evaluations of the quality of public resources, the effectiveness and legitimacy of their mediation, and the degree of justice in their territorial distribution.