Class Conflict and Spatial Domination in the Neoliberal City

Abstract

This paper analyzes spatial domination in middle-classed spaces––the spaces that cater to the dispositions, status, and lifestyle ideals of middle-class groups––of the neoliberal city. Grounded in interdisciplinary scholarship on the neoliberal city, the paper introduces a typology of middle-classed spaces that maps out different combinations of cross-class hostility and cordiality in dynamics of spatial domination. Through an extended case study of a new upscale neighborhood bordering a slum area in a southern Brazilian city, the paper unveils the socio-historic conditions that inform the localized cross-class relations and situate it in the spatial typology. With the support of a semiotic square, the paper then identifies, relates, and analyzes the hostile (‘takeover’ and ‘repression’) and cordial (‘makeover’ and ‘concession’) spatial practices by which dominant agents produce one specific type of middle-classed space. Through these practices, dominant agents improve the status, experience, and market value of the neighborhood for target upper-middle-class consumers, while further disenfranchising the poor from its spaces—effectively reproducing deep-rooted historical patterns of social exclusion. This study extends research on status consumption and spatiality while also adding insights into the role of the state in consumption and market dynamics.