The fear reflex:

the image of militias as synonymous with violence from a symbolic conflict occurred in Rio de Janeiro's South Zone

Abstract

This article addresses, through a case study, a conflict situation arising from the provision of private security to residents of a neighborhood in the South Zone of Rio de Janeiro. The study focuses on residents' classification of this security provision as a militia initiative. Based on this, the article discusses the potential transformations of diffuse signs of social danger within the grammar of urban violence in Rio de Janeiro. Thus, the main objectives of the study are to analyze the sociability effects produced by the fear aroused by militias in a specific location, their implications in terms of temporality, and their relationships with social representations of urban violence. The text contributes to discussions that examine urban violence through its various practical manifestations, aiming to establish fear as an analytical category useful for this purpose.