The New Latin America / Edition 1

by Fernando Calderón, Manuel Castells, Ramsey McGlazer

Overview

Latin America has experienced a profound transformation in the first two decades of the 21st century: it has been fully incorporated into the global economy, while excluding regions and populations devalued by the logic of capitalism. Technological modernization has gone hand-in-hand with the reshaping of old identities and the emergence of new ones. 

The transformation of Latin America has been shaped by social movements and political conflicts. The neoliberal model that dominated the first stage of the transformation induced widespread inequality and poverty, and triggered social explosions that led to its own collapse. A new model, neo-developmentalism, emerged from these crises as national populist movements were elected to government in several countries. The more the state intervened in the economy, the more it became vulnerable to corruption, until the rampant criminal economy came to penetrate state institutions. Upper middle classes defending their privileges and citizens indignant because of corruption of the political elites revolted against the new regimes, undermining the model of neo-developmentalism. In the midst of political disaffection and public despair, new social movements, women, youth, indigenous people, workers, peasants, opened up avenues of hope against the background of darkness invading the continent. 

This book, written by two leading scholars of Latin America, provides a comprehensive and up-do-date account of the new Latin America that is in the process of taking shape today. It will be an indispensable text for students and scholars in Latin American Studies, sociology, politics and media and communication studies, and anyone interested in Latin America today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781509540020
Publisher:	Polity Press
Publication date:	10/05/2020
Pages:	242
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Fernando Calderón is Director of Research at the National University of San Martín, Argentina. He was Special Advisor on Human Development and Governance in the United Nations Development Program and he held the Simon Bolivar Chair at Cambridge University in 2017-18.

Manuel Castells is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley and University Professor at the University of Southern California. He is one of the most widely-cited and influential social scientists in the world today, and he has taught at universities in Chile, Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and Bolivia.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 
Preface
Introduction: The New Latin America 
Chapter 1: The Globalization of Latin America: From the Crisis of Neoliberalism to the Crisis of Neo-Developmentalism 
Chapter 2: A New System of Production: Informational Extractivism and the Globalization of Markets 
Chapter 3: The Global Criminal Economy 
Chapter 4: Human Development, Urbanization, and Inhuman Development 
Chapter 5: A Network Society: Individualization, Techno-Sociability, and the Culture of Diaspora
Chapter 6: Patriarchy in Question 
Chapter 7: The Crisis of the Catholic Church and the New Religiosity 
Chapter 8: The Power of Identity: Multiculturalism and Social Movements 
Chapter 9: Digital Communication and the New Public Space 
Chapter 10: Conflicts and Social Movements 
Chapter 11: State Corruption 
Chapter 12: In the Kamanchaka 
In Place of a Conclusion: The Color of Hope
About the Authors
Bibliography

Editorial Reviews

"[A] structural analysis of contemporary Latin America worthy of consideration and scholarly debate."
"[A] structural analysis of contemporary Latin America worthy of consideration and scholarly debate."
Social Forces

From the Publisher