The Market And The Masses In Latin America

Conventional wisdom views globalization as an imposition on unwilling workers in developing nations; the rise of the Latin American left constituting a popular backlash against the market. Andy Baker marshals public opinion data from 18 Latin American countries to show that most citizens are enthusiastic about globalization.

The twelve essayswritten exclusively for this publication - examine either an aspect of the mass media in the region or the media in a particular country during a number of stages of its political development.

This brief text offers an unbiased reflection on debates about neoliberalism and its alternatives in Latin America with an emphasis on the institutional puzzle that underlies the region’s difficulties with democratization and development. In addition to providing an overview of this key element of the Latin American political economy, Peter Kingstone also advances the argument that both state-led and market-led solutions depend on effective institutions, but little is known about how and why they emerge. Kingstone offers a unique contribution by mapping out the problem of how to understand institutions, why they are created, and why Latin American ones limit democratic development. This timely and thorough update includes: A fresh discussion of the commodity boom in the region and the resulting "Golden Era" in Latin America; The recent explosion of social policy innovation and concerns about the durability of social reform after the boom; A discussion of the knowledge economy and the limits to economic growth, with case studies of successful examples of fostering innovation.

In a subtle but powerful reading of the shifting relationships between development, hegemony, and social transformation in post-independence Latin America, Ronaldo Munck argues that Latin American subaltern knowledge makes a genuine contribution to the current search for a social order which is sustainable and equitable.

For over four centuries the Catholic Church enjoyed a religious monopoly in Latin America in which potential rivals were repressed or outlawed. Latin Americans were born Catholic and the only real choice they had was whether to actively practice the faith. Taking advantage of the legal disestablishment of the Catholic Church between the late 1800s and the early 1900s, Pentecostals almost single-handedly built a new pluralist religious economy. By the 1950s, many Latin Americans were free to choose from among the hundreds of available religious "products," a dizzying array of religious options that range from the African-Brazilian religion of Umbanda to the New Age group known as the Vegetable Union. R. Andrew Chesnut shows how the development of religious pluralism over the past half-century has radically transformed the "spiritual economy" of Latin America. In order to thrive in this new religious economy, says Chesnut, Latin American spiritual "firms" must develop an attractive product and know how to market it to popular consumers. Three religious groups, he demonstrates, have proven to be the most skilled competitors in the new unregulated religious economy. Protestant Pentecostalism, the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, and African diaspora religions such as Brazilian Candomble and Haitian Vodou have emerged as the most profitable religious producers. Chesnut explores the general effects of a free market, such as introduction of consumer taste and product specialization, and shows how they have played out in the Latin American context. He notes, for example, that women make up the majority of the religious consumer market, and explores how the three groups have developed to satisfy women's tastes and preferences. Moving beyond the Pentecostal boom and the rise and fall of liberation theology, Chesnut provides a fascinating portrait of the Latin American religious landscape.

It is well known that large numbers of Europeans migrated overseas during the century preceding the Great Depression of 1930, and that a great many of them went to the United States. What is not well known, particularly in the United States, is that more than 20 percent of these migrants emigrated to Latin America, and that they significantly influenced the demographic, economic, and cultural evolution of many areas in the region. Individuals have migrated to Latin America since the beginning of the Conquest more than 500 years ago, but by far the largest number, 10 million, migrated from 1870 to 1930. This incredible influx was also concentrated in terms of the origins and destinations of the individuals: three-quarters came from the Iberian peninsula and Italy, while 91 percent relocated to just three countries-Argentina (50 percent), Brazil (36 percent), and Uruguay (5 percent). Mass Migration to Modern Latin America includes original contributions from more than a dozen of the leading scholars of the new methodologically and theoretically innovative Latin American migration history that has emerged during the past 20 years. Although the authors focus primarily on the nature and impact of mass migration to Argentina and Brazil from 1870 to 1930, they place their analysis in broader historical and comparative contexts. They link the mass migrations at the turn of the past century to older migratory traditions and existing social networks, some of which had their roots in the colonial period. The editors begin each section of the book with personal stories of individual immigrants and their families, providing students with a glimpse into the complex process of migration and how it played out in various situations. This text will help readers understand that Latin America is more than a "traditional society," composed of the descendants of the Conquistadors and Native Americans. This book demonstrates the crucial impact of the mass migrations of the late nineteenth and early twentieth c