How Young People Peacefully Challenge Community Norms Embedded With Violence in a Brazilian Favela

Drawing on social disorganisation theories this paper considers what type of voluntary organisation might mediate community social norms in localities with low income where violence is embedded in social institutions and residents appear unable to informally regulate violent crimes. This study describes how the situated logic of one organisation, located in a favela in Brazil, transcends personal ties to the organisation and illustrates how community-based organisations have potential to influence community norms with the expectation that rates of violence will decline. This organisation has made it possible for young people to publically disrupt the symbolic order that maintains divisive social rules and has started to alter gendered norms that contribute to high levels of neighbourhood violence.