Socioeconomic segregation and the middle classes in Paris, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo: a comparative perspective
Résumé
The chapter analyses the structure and trends of socioeconomic segregation in Paris, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo in the first decade of the XXI century. It addresses four main issues: (i) the need for and difficulties of comparative analysis, with a particular emphasis on questions such as units of analysis, quality of census data and design, and notably the construction of comparative socioeconomic categories; (ii) the interpretation of similarities and differences in segregation structures and trends in the three metropoles, as measured by different segregation indexes; (iii) a methodological evaluation of the usefulness of different measures and indexes of urban segregation; (iv) and the comparative analysis of our proposed typology of sociospatial categories, as well as their change in 10 years. We show that social and spatial change in the three cities have resulted in a shift towards higher socio-spatial status in all the types. This result dismisses for the three cities the dualization hypothesis, but it does not exclude some degree of greater polarization, the mechanisms of which are hypothesized in the study.