Abstract

This article analyzes the perceptions about and legitimation of inequalities in the case of Chile, focusing on the socioecological dimension. It shows the results of a four-year qualitative study carried out in five cases of territories with high levels of environmental degradation, in order to analyze the processes through which subjects perceive the dimension of inequality and build a critique of it, considering that in these spaces the intersection of variables that account for positions of disadvantage take on a violence that threatens subjects’ life and their environment. The article analyzes four elements of the toxic context that cut across perceptions of inequality and determine legitimation: naturalization, relativization, denial, and resignation.