Very sneaky crimes

Squatting, urban security, and class anthropopoiesis in Milan (Italy)

Bibliographic Data

ID2991945
AuthorsGiacomo Pozzi (0000-0003-1092-5333, IULM University, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume2025
Issue101
Pages96-110
Publication date2025-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFocaal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0920-1297 • E-ISSN: 1558-5263
PublisherBerghahn Books (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.3167/fcl.2023.011701
OpenAlexW4323350419
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited19

Milan is an increasingly safe city. Despite this, the insecurity perceived by citizens is growing. Particularly in social housing districts, squatting is considered by institutions, public opinion, but also by most regular residents, as one of the principle causes of urban insecurity. Based on ethnographic research conducted in Milan between 2015 and 2017, this article proposes an anthropological analysis of policies, norms, practices, and narratives related to the governance of housing illegality, showing how these representations contribute to producing a stigmatized, morally connoted, and criminalized image of squatters. In broader terms, starting with the ethnographic case of squatting, the article explores the anthropopoietic dynamics of social class construction and the centrality of moral categories in the production of urban inequality

Centrality · Corporate governance · Criminology · Economics · Ethnography · Inequality · Narrative · Political science · Sociology · Squatting position · Anthropology · Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance · Gender Studies

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access