This article emphasizes the importance of social networks and sociability in situations of urban poverty. The study is based on research about social networks in contexts of urban poverty, identifying and analyzing networks of individuals in situations of poverty and subject to different types of segregation in the city, as compared to a control group of middle class individuals. The study adopted social network analysis as its methodology, in addition to exploratory and multivariate quantitative techniques. The results corroborate the central importance of sociability and of the social networks to which individuals belong in the definition of conditions surrounding employment, job stability, social vulnerability, and income. The multivariate analyses indicate that the networks are as important as traditional variables such as family structure and schooling.
urban poverty; social vulnerability; social networks; sociability; São Paulo
