Abstract

PEREZ, Miguel; SALCEDO, Rodrigo  and  CACERES, Gonzalo. Apropiación y control social en un centro comercial de Santiago: prácticas socioespaciales y significaciones adolescentes. EURE (Santiago) [online]. 2012, vol.38, n.113, pp.53-75. ISSN 0250-7161.  http://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0250-71612012000100003.

Intellectual critique, both from North and Latin America, has described malls as tightly controlled, socially homogeneous private spaces that are indifferent to their urban context. In Chile, this also implied a critique ofthe neoliberal model established during the dictatorship, which however, did not deny the mall's success among citizens. In this article, through a qualitative and ethnographical analysis ofpractices and significations ofteenagers in the Plaza Vespucio Mall, we will discuss some ofthe most common discourses ofthe intellectual critique by asserting thatfor adolescents: (i) the mall, rather than being enclosed and indifferent to the larger urban context, is part ofa system including different types ofspaces; (fi) the private /public; inside / outside distinctions are not relevant; and (fii) the level ofsocial control in the mall is tolerated insofar as practices ofadaptation and emerging resistance.

Keywords : public space; consumption; urban culture; urban sociology.

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