Rethinking Development in Latin America

by Charles H. Wood (Editor), Bryan R. Roberts (Editor)

Overview

Understanding development in Latin America today requires both an awareness of the major political and economic changes that have produced a new agenda for social policy in the region and an appreciation of the need to devise better conceptual and methodological tools for analyzing the social impact of these changes. Using as a reference point the issues and theories that dominated social science research on Latin America in the period 1960–80, this volume contributes to “rethinking development” by examining the historical events that accounted for the erosion or demise of once-dominant paradigms and by assessing the new directions of research that have emerged in their place.

Following the editors’ overview of the new conceptual and social agendas in their Introduction, the book proceeds with a review of previous broad conceptual approaches by Alejandro Portes, who emphasizes by contrast the advantages of newer “middle-range” theories. Subsequent chapters focus on changes in different arenas and the concepts and methods used to interpret them: “Globalization, Neoliberalism, and Social Policy”; “Citizenship, Politics, and the State”; “Work, Families, and Reproduction”; and “Urban Settlements, Marginality, and Social Exclusion.”

Contributors, besides the editors, are Marina Ariza and Orlandina de Oliveira, Diane Davis, Vilmar Faria, Joe Foweraker, Elizabeth Jelin, Alejandro Portes, Joe Potter and Rudolfo Tuirán, Juan Pablo Pérez Sáinz, Osvaldo Sunkel, and Peter Ward.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780271028941
Publisher:	Penn State University Press
Publication date:	01/15/2005
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.06(d)

About the Author

Charles H. Wood is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Florida.

Bryan R. Roberts is C. B. Smith Centennial Chair in U.S.-Mexican Relations and Professor of Sociology at the University of Texas.

Table of Contents

Contents

Acronyms

Figures and Tables

Preface

Introduction: Rethinking Development in Latin America

Bryan R. Roberts and Charles H. Wood

Part I Sociology in the Hemisphere: Old Issues and New Directions

1. Sociology in the Hemisphere: Past Convergencies and a New Middle-Range Agenda

Alejandro Portes

Part II: Globalization, Neoliberalism, and Social Policy

2. The Unbearable Lightness of Neoliberalism

Osvaldo Sunkel

3. Social Science and Academic Sociology in Brazil

Vilmar E. Faria

Part III Citizenship, Politics, and the State

4. Toward a Political Sociology of Social Mobilization in Latin America

Joe Foweraker

5. Citizenship, Rights, and Social Policy

Bryan R. Roberts

6. The State of the State in Latin American Sociology

Diane E. Davis

7. Human Rights and the Memory of Political Violence and Repression: Constructing a New Field in Social Science

Elizabeth Jelin

Part IV Work, Families, and Reproduction

8. Exclusion and Employability: The New Labor Force Dynamics in Latin America

Juan Pablo Pérez Sáinz

9. Families in Transition

Marian Ariza and Orlandina de Oliveira

10. Population and Development: Then and Now

Joseph E. Potter and Rodolfo A. Tuirán Gutiérrez

Part V Urban Settlements, Marginality, and Social Exclusion

11. The Lack of “Cursive Thinking” Within Social Theory and Public Policy: Four Decades of Marginality and Rationality in the So-called Slum

Peter M. Ward

12. Social Exclusion

Charles H. Wood

References

Contributors

Index

Editorial Reviews

A dozen very accomplished social scientists here reassess the theories that have informed the study of Latin American societies over the past forty years or so. The authors also consider analytic revisions that may be needed to address new social issues or paradigmatic gaps. The text conveys a subtle picture of contemporary societal and political dilemmas in Latin America, stressing the interplay among social issues, public policies, and evolving analytic models.”

—Christopher Mitchell, New York University

“At no point in recent memory are we more in need of fresh thinking about development strategies for Latin America than today. The distinguished authors in this volume challenge existing paradigms and offer provocative insights to stimulate renewed debate about how Latin America might move ahead and, indeed, once again provide a development model for other regions in the world.”

—Gary Gereffi, Duke University

From the Publisher