Social invisibility is described as a phenomenon of denial about the existence of an
individual through a stigma, a prejudice: it exists physically, however it does not exist
socially. Thus, as it is not being seen as part of society, he cannot be considered a
citizen, thus enjoying his rights. The research aims to investigate, from the sociological
point of view (BOURDIEU, 2002; SENNETT, 2004; HONNETH, 2006; SOUZA, 2003),
how social invisibility happens and how a homeless person is socially “erased” to the
point of not having documentation that guarantee their well-being in the midst of public
space. The Ver-o-Peso Market region, in Belém do Pará, is the research location. It is
an environment of intense commercialization and tourism, in which a significant portion
of these homeless people transit. The methodology will be qualitative, involving
informal and semi-structured interviews with homeless people, local marketers and
volunteers from the Sopão – a charity group; survey of quantitative data and
bibliography to analise the case study on the theme of social invisibility in the city of
Belém. Invisibility, as well as visibility, are ramifications of the same root, since the
decision of what is or is not socially visible is established depending on what society,
called here as normative, establishes in what is desirable to exist or not, when the the
presence of the different offers threats to this society, ranging from: simple visual
discomfort to the denial of the right to exist of an individual in public urban space, thus
coerced through symbolic and physical violence.
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