Legitimidade e movimentos sociais: a construção da liderança comunitária em Patos, Paraíba.

Abstract

<How is the legitimacy of leadership constructed within a community movement?= This question constitutes the main line of this research carried out with the community movement in the region of Patos, Paraíba. This movement proved the emergence in 1994 of the Union of Community Associations of Patos and Region (UAC), an organization with the purpose of leading the community struggle in this region, bringing together a large number of urban and rural associations present in 26 municipalities in Paraíba, with headquarters in Ducks. Its presidents, José Gonçalves da Silva Filho, José Ilton Oliveira Batista, Elizabete Barreto de Oliveira and Veridiano da Silva Martins, at the same time worked in the field of struggles for improvements in neighborhoods, representing the social movement organized in community associations as <organizations of base=, sought to build for themselves an ideal image of community leadership. From the analysis of the subjects' narratives, it was possible to understand that the construction of leadership legitimacy to speak on behalf of the struggle in the local community movement goes beyond occupying the position of president of this social organization. This legitimacy was built from social resources and power observed in the community field under study, such as the recognition of the constructed image of a community leader, the self-construction of this image, the time spent in activism, brokerage relationships, the feeling of belonging constructed and the results of conflicts. The search for legitimacy for community leadership revealed a dichotomy between acceptance and rejection of new actors and produced a paradox between achievements and cooling down in this community movement. Certainly, the presidents of the UAC positioned themselves as instruments for building this community movement while building the legitimacy of their leaders, in Patos, Paraíba.