Between consensus and dissension: legitimation strategies in the bureaucratic field of State in action in favelas

Abstract This article aims to analyze the legitimation strategies used by agents of the State field in action in favelas, as a way to bring light to the disputes in the field. Based on Bourdieu’s theoretical perspective and in ethnographic field research in two favelas of Rio de Janeiro, the study conducts a rhetorical analysis on the discourse of the agents of the field, to access their legitimation strategies. The work advances by highlighting the logic behind the agents’ discourses as forces that drive and shape the dynamics of the field.