Social Panorama Of Latin America 2020

This publication examines the social impact of an unprecedented crisis.

This study was prepared by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), at the request of the Government of Mexico in its capacity as Pro Tempore Chair of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), at the virtual ministerial meeting on health matters for response and follow-up to the COVID-19 pandemic in Latin America and the Caribbean, held on 26 March 2020. The report addresses three topics: the economic and social impacts of the coronavirus pandemic in the region, the actions taken by ECLAC in response to the request by CELAC and, on the basis of these, a set of policy recommendations to address the pandemic and its effects in different areas.

The Social Panorama of Latin America provides an annual assessment of the most salient aspects of social development in Latin America, with particular emphasis on the question of equity. Among the issues it examines are poverty, education, the situation of children & young people, gender & social expenditure. It also presents an overview of how Governments are implementing their social agendas & reviews new policy directions in various social sectors.

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.

The sociology of Latin America, established in the region over the past eighty years, is a thriving field whose major contributions include dependence theory, world-systems theory, and historical debates on economic development, among others. The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Latin America provides research essays that introduce the readers to the discipline's key areas and current trends, specifically with regard to contemporary sociology in Latin America, as well as a collection of innovative empirical studies deploying a variety of qualitative and quantitative methodologies. The essays in the Handbook are arranged in eight research subfields in which scholars are currently making significant theoretical and methodological contributions: Sociology of the State, Social Inequalities, Sociology of Religion, Collective Action and Social Movements, Sociology of Migration, Sociology of Gender, Medical Sociology, and Sociology of Violence and Insecurity. Due to the deterioration of social and economic conditions, as well as recent disruptions to an already tense political environment, these have become some of the most productive and important fields in Latin American sociology. This roiling sociopolitical atmosphere also generates new and innovative expressions of protest and survival, which are being explored by sociologists across different continents today. The essays included in this collection offer a map to and a thematic articulation of central sociological debates that make it a critical resource for those scholars and students eager to understand contemporary sociology in Latin America.

The final decade of twentieth century was momentous for Latin America, as it witnessed sweeping changes with regard to previous trends in the region. Most important were the revival of economic growth and the reduction of poverty. Another significant phenomenon was impact of international crises on Latin American countries. This book analyzes what happened between 1990 and 1999 and revisits issues of interest to ECLAC, using the same approach that has characterized the Social Panorama of Latin America. Analysis begins with a look at poverty, income distribution, employment, occupational stratification, the role of education, the intergenerational transmission of opportunities for achieving well-being and the contribution of social spending to the improvement of the population's standard of living and at interrelationships between these dimensions and economic growth. It also uses opinion polls carried out in many of the countries to describe the Latin American population's subjective reactions changes in the 1990s--Publisher's description.

This publication outlines the region's economic performance in 2019 and analyses trends in the early months of 2020, as well as the outlook for the rest of the year. It examines the external and domestic factors that have influenced the region's economic performance, analyses the characteristics of growth, prices and the labour market, and draws attention to some of the macroeconomic policy challenges of the prevailing external conditions, amid mounting uncertainty stemming mainly from political factors. It analyses the dynamics of investment and its determinants, with a view to identifying the different variables on which public policy can act to influence the trajectory of investment. This edition also analyses the effects and challenges of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic for the region during 2020 and the outlook that is taking shape for the years to come.