Old and young leaders in social movements in the periphery of são paulo

The objective of this presentation is to discuss the political practice of the leadership and militants that operate in social movements in the periphery of São Paulo, Brazil. The investigation aims to understand the development of social action among these leaders and the resources that are mobilized in the construction of their legitimacy, taking into account the transformations observed in the periphery of the city in the last thirty years. Changes associated with globalization have inserted the city in the logic of transnational fluxes of markets and people. The prevalence of market logics in the functioning of social and economic processes has complicated the formal labor market through the addition of an expressive quantity of workers employed in precarious jobs. Changes in the mechanisms of social action and political representation have also been introduced throughout the process of the transition to democracy in the country. New modes of social struggle have arisen in the city, introducing different elements than those in the traditional social movements of the 1980s. Through the establishment of a generational contrast among old and young leaders it is possible to observe the occurrence of new modes of organizing political action on the part of young leaders at the same time as it is possible to note the permanence of certain practices in continuity with the traditions of social struggles for urban reforms developed in the 1970s and 1980s. Beginning with this generational contrast between young and old leaders, the study aims to understand the possible inter-generational relations in social movements, in particular, the relations that youth establish with previous generations, and the political practices that they undertake in the city. The methodology adopted in this investigation is ethnographic observation of the spaces in which political practices are realized, and interviews with leaders and militants.