The paper begins with an analysis of the socio-economic conditions of slum tenements in the past and present São Paulo, and then introduces a deeper analysis of the lives of various residents from three slum tenements in this city's downtown area. The final part of the paper addresses the issues of humiliation and subalternity, relating both conditions to strategies of domination, and presents some basic concepts for the study of social movements.
Slum tenements (São Paulo); Social space; Social movements; Humiliation; Subalternity