Klassenzusammensetzung und die Produktion verräumlichter Gemeinschaften in Barcelona-Sants

Abstract. The article analyses the production of spatialised communities in the Sants district of Barcelona from a historical-materialist perspective. For the analysis, (post-)operaist approaches to the social factory and class composition are expanded to include the concept of modes of relationships (Beziehungsweisen). The aim is to contribute a more theoretical-conceptual perspective on the discussions about spatialised communities. This avoids an a priori positing of communities as fixed entities, but instead places their contested production at the centre of the analysis. The case study outlines how rising rents, displacement and forced evictions threaten existing social structures, while at the same time new spatialised communities are produced in struggles against neoliberal urban development. In Sants, these communities are characterized by progressiveness, collectivity, and inclusivity, setting themselves apart from hegemonic capitalist processes. The composition of these struggles reflects an international, heavily feminized, and precarious working class. This leads to separations and new entanglements along the modes of relationships such as exchange value and use value or individualisation and collectivity.