Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Residential compounds have become a widespread and popular way of life. Today, we find a great structural and social diversity of compounds. While evidence suggests that living in the most closed settings, such as gated communities, is often linked to the desire of the upper-middle class’s desire to associate with people of similar status, research on what kind of elective belonging can be found among working classes remains limited. This qualitative study analyses how class identity is constructed through interviews with residents and non-residents of upper-middle and working-class compounds in the metropolitan area of Granada. The results indicate that residents of compounds value the development of a sense of belonging more highly, and reproduce it more noticeably in their discourses, than non-residents. Residential compounds appear to function as status drivers, both materially and symbolically, but operate differently depending on the social composition of the compounds themselves.
Source: Critical Sociology
Authors: Henar Baldán, Nayla Fuster, Joaquín Susino
Institutions: Universidad de Granada, Universidad de Málaga
Language: English
Topic: Social and Cultural Dynamics
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: G1182855089, G2003447365
OpenAlex ID: W4407154645