TOWARDS A SPATIALISED AND CIRCULATORY ANALYSIS OF RURAL SOCIAL STRUCTURES: EVIDENCE FROM A SOCIOLOGICAL REVISIT IN NORTH-WEST PORTUGAL.

Virgilio Borgès PEREIRA; João Queirós

Todos os Trabalhos

Trabalho

DOI

10.29327/9786527226680.1442080

Título do Trabalho

TOWARDS A SPATIALISED AND CIRCULATORY ANALYSIS OF RURAL SOCIAL STRUCTURES: EVIDENCE FROM A SOCIOLOGICAL REVISIT IN NORTH-WEST PORTUGAL.

Autores

Virgilio Borgès PEREIRA
João Queirós

Modalidade

IRSA - Congresso Mundial de Sociologia Rural (01/10/2025 a 20/01/2026)

Área temática

IRSA 15 - Beyond urban and rural sociology: towards a spatialised and circulatory analysis of social structure

Data de Publicação

06/08/2026

País da Publicação

Brasil

Idioma da Publicação

pt-BR

Página do Trabalho

https://www.even3.com.br/anais/sober-irsa2026/1442080-towards-a-spatialised-and-circulatory-analysis-of-rural-social-structures--evidence-from-a-sociological-revisit-

ISBN

978-65-272-2668-0

Palavras-Chave

Rural social structure, social space, mobility and circulation, sociological revisit, Bourdieusian sociology.

Resumo

This paper contributes to IRSA 15 by developing a spatialised and explicitly circulatory analysis of social structure, grounded in the early reception and long-term mobilisation of Pierre Bourdieu’s sociology in Portugal. Following the democratic revolution of 1974, sociological research in north-western Portugal engaged Bourdieusian concepts to analyse rural transformations in contexts marked by the growing articulation between agricultural, industrial and urban worlds. Early doctoral research combined intensive fieldwork with localised class analysis to document changing habitus among peasant-workers, already revealing the importance of circulation between places, occupations and social positions. Building on this tradition, the paper draws on a longitudinal research programme developed at the University of Porto that applied a relational and topological framework across urban, industrial and rural settings. Using mixed methods—questionnaire surveys, geometric data analysis, cartography, in-depth interviews and ethnography—this programme analysed social space as structured by the unequal distribution and composition of capital, and by the circulation of individuals and households across spatial scales. Rural areas were thus approached not as bounded territories but as socially differentiated configurations shaped by daily mobility, occupational trajectories and multi-local practices. A sociological revisit of the original peasant contexts in north-west Portugal that founded this research tradition, conducted three decades later, shows how society has changed significantly, including the process of semi-proletarianisation, declining agricultural centrality, intensified commuting and the reconfiguration of symbolic and spatial boundaries. These dynamics reveal how rural social structures are produced through the flow of labour, resources and symbolic recognition, linking villages, towns and metropolitan centres. By articulating social space, mobility and circulation, the paper challenges static representations of rurality and contributes to a circulatory, multi-scalar and relational framework that moves beyond the urban–rural divide. In doing so, it advances the spatial analysis of social structure central to the IRSA 15 agenda.

Título do Evento: 16th World Congress of Rural Sociology and 64th Congress of the Brazilian Society of Rural Economics, Management and Sociology
Cidade do Evento: Porto Alegre
Título dos Anais do Evento: Anais do 64º Congresso da SOBER e XVI Congresso Mundial de Sociologia Rural (IRSA)
Nome da Editora: Even3
Meio de Divulgação: Meio Digital
DOI

Como citar

PEREIRA, Virgilio Borgès; QUEIRÓS, João. TOWARDS A SPATIALISED AND CIRCULATORY ANALYSIS OF RURAL SOCIAL STRUCTURES: EVIDENCE FROM A SOCIOLOGICAL REVISIT IN NORTH-WEST PORTUGAL... In: Anais do 64º Congresso da SOBER e XVI Congresso Mundial de Sociologia Rural (IRSA). Anais...Porto Alegre(RS) UFRGS, 2026. Disponível em: https//www.even3.com.br/anais/sober-irsa2026/1442080-TOWARDS-A-SPATIALISED-AND-CIRCULATORY-ANALYSIS-OF-RURAL-SOCIAL-STRUCTURES--EVIDENCE-FROM-A-SOCIOLOGICAL-REVISIT-. Acesso em: 22/09/2026