NEOLIBERALISM AND SOCIAL-NEIGHBORHOOD NETWORKS. EXPERIENCES FROM QUITO’S NEIGHBORHOODS

Abstract

This paper presents the experience of social intervention in the "Barrios de Quito" Program, under the Social Outreach Department of the Universidad Central del Ecuador, during the academic period 2022-2023. The objective is to present the tensions in the construction of the social network during the pre-professional practices; and challenges to be addressed by the students who continue in activities in these neighborhoods. Qualitative research was carried out based on interviews with the residents of the neighborhoods, as well as on participant observation recorded in field diaries and social reports generated during the pre-professional practice. It is concluded that community relations among the residents of the neighborhoods are marked by the logic of capitalism in its neoliberal regime (individualization of the subject and atomization of the family group with respect to the rest of the community, patriarchal violence), which limits the forms of construction of neighborhood organization. This poses several challenges to think of a social intervention that makes possible the reconstruction of this fabric and that proposes strategies for the construction of solidarity networks among the inhabitants of the neighborhoods