Resumen

MENESES REYES, Marcela. Violence as a Mechanism of Conflict Resolution in Urban-Popular Environments. Relac. Estud. hist. soc. [online]. 2020, vol.41, n.161, pp.26-46.  Epub 19-Nov-2020. ISSN 2448-7554.  https://doi.org/10.24901/rehs.v41i161.693.

This article presents preliminary results of an ongoing research project on violence as a mechanism of conflict resolution in urban-popular environments in Mexico City. My approach consists in understanding violence as an element of a socialization process through which people learn to act and respond in violent ways. Although their acts, in effect, transform executors into perpetrators, in the eyes of the members of their community of belonging they are socially legitimized to act in this manner. This perspective led me to propose the category of ‘legitimate perpetrator’. Findings are based on empirical data gathered through ethnographic observation, cibernography and a questionnaire applied to 121 young residents of a popular housing unit located north of the city.

Palabras llave : Violence; urban-popular environments; housing units; young people; legitimate perpetrator.