This article examines a part of the initial production of Brazilian urban sociology aiming to present a brief review of the theoretical and methodological treatment attributed to the problems of living conditions. Highlighting one of its most recognized aspects, due to the emphasis given to the theme, we verified its discontinuity from the 1990’s and we resumed some found criteria, such as food, housing, transport, and collective consumption, to suggest the interest of its continuity from an approximate approach to current living conditions. We proceeded based on the descriptive statistics of household budgets available in the series of official surveys on the subject carried out in different periods and compared them with previous studies based on the same data sources. Thus, the analytical possibilities found at the beginning of national urban sociology are highlighted to reflect on these important themes in new directions and in the renewal of research agendas in this area of knowledge.
Keywords:
Urban Sociology; Life Conditions; Family Budgets; Consumption