THE MATERIALIZATION OF ULRICH BECK'S CATASTROPHIST THEORY IN VIEW OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND THE URBAN EXODUS MOVEMENT IN THE STATES OF MINAS GERAIS, BRAZIL

ABSTRACT

Objective: For the German sociologist Ulrich Beck (2019), modern society is experiencing a disruptive moment and is becoming a risk society, a phenomenon that does not respect classes or borders and generates unknown consequences for human health and the environment. Based on this context, the problem proposed in the present research is to analyze whether the Covid-19 pandemic, understood here as the materialization of Beck's catastrophist theory, accentuated or not the migratory flows from the city to the countryside, the so-called urban exodus, especially in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The objective of the research is to draw a parallel between the humanitarian and sanitary catastrophe and its supposed influence on migratory flows, analyzing whether the State of Minas Gerais experienced a real migratory flow from large urban centers to smaller cities due to fear caused by the pandemic. This migratory flow both from the point of view of cataloging data of the new social demands and from the point of view of the offer of real estate in view of this new way of living. Methodology: the method used is hypothetical deductive, through qualitative, quantitative, exploratory and descriptive research, especially bibliographical, having as theoretical reference the ideas of the German sociologist Ulrich Beck. Results: it is concluded that the State of Minas Gerais does not have official data on these migratory flows during the pandemic period, however, as some municipalities with a more peaceful lifestyle, belonging to the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte, registered a high demand for real estate, there is a suggestive bias that the hypothesis of the present research is confirmed. Contributions the scientific contribution gained is the continuous and resilient need to revisit the nuclear and peripheral concepts related to the theory of risk developed by Ulrich Beck, its effectiveness and its implementation towards a new modernity, as such risks do not respect classes or borders and the awareness of global risk creates space for alternative modernities. © 2022, Centro Universitario Curitiba - UNICURITIBA. All rights reserved.