Resumen

LEVY, Lidia; JONATHAN, Eva Gertrudes; CARVALHO, Luis Gustavo Grandinetti Castanho de  y  DALLA, Humberto. Contemporary discontent and conflicts between neighbors. Rev. Mal-Estar Subj. [online]. 2011, vol.11, n.3, pp. 1033-1053. ISSN 1518-6148.

This article centers on conflicts between neighbors, a fact that has increasingly been observed in the urban life of big Brazilian cities. The goal of the present study is to reveal how neighbors experience conflictive situations and it starts out with a discussion over contemporary discontent, which is marked by intolerance and violence as ways of coping with interpersonal problems and impasses. Fieldwork was carried out at the IV Criminal Claims Court, at Rio de Janeiro and content analysis was performed in the complains recorded at the police station by those involved in criminal processes. Such analysis revealed that mainly three aspects characterized neighborhood conflicts: an overreaction to the cause of misunderstanding; the presence of broken sociability of community bonds; and self-centered interpersonal relationships. It was also verified that the Judiciary was asked to intervene in questions that until then were considered to be of a private nature, and to settle conflicts whose tensions were basically caused by intolerance. Further, the importance of creating spaces of dialogue was verified, so that those involved in a controversy might present their differences and together engage in constructing alternatives to the solution of the litigation. Thus, it is suggested that conflict mediation, a work whose nature is transdisciplinary, could more appropriately deal with misunderstandings between neighbors.

Palabras clave : Neighborhood conflicts; intolerance; discontent; Judiciary; conflict mediation.

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