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Illuminates hot button issues in contemporary Latin America from an intellectually radical perspective: a sociological theory of democracy as civil sphere.
List of contents
Introduction: for democracy in Latin America Jeffrey C. Alexander and Carlo Tognato; Part I. Scandals and Civil Indignation: 1. The civil sphere in Mexico: between democracy and authoritarianism Nelson Arteaga and Javier Arzuaga; 2. Shaping solidarity in Argentina: the power of the civil sphere in repairing violence against women María Luengo; 3. Civil indignation in Chile: recent collusion scandals in the retail industry M. Angélica Thumala; Part II. Militancy, Civility, and Polarization: 4. La Joven Cuba: confrontation, conciliation, and the quest for the civil through blogging Liliana Martínez Pérez; 5. ¿La Clase Media en Positivo? The civil and uncivil uses of 'the Middle Class' in Venezuela, 1958-2016 Celso M. Villegas; 6. The civil life of the university: enacting dissent and resistance on a Colombian campus Carlo Tognato; Part III. Law, Order, and Solidarity: 7. Police officers in contradiction: anti-civility in the São Paulo state military police Mayumi Shimizu; 8. Citizenship and the established civil sphere in provincial Mexico Trevor Stack; Part IV. Commentary and Conclusion: Commentary: is civil society dangerous for democracy? New directions for civil sphere theory in Latin America Isabel Jijón; Conclusion: democracy and the civil sphere in Latin America Peter Kivisto and Giuseppe Sciortino.
About the author
Jeffrey C. Alexander, Lillian Chavenson Saden Professor of Sociology at Yale University, Connecticut, is the author of twenty books and editor of twenty-five more. He is one of the creators of contemporary cultural sociology, founder and director of the Yale Center for Cultural Sociology, and co-editor of The American Journal of Cultural Sociology.Carlo Tognato is Associate Professor of Sociology at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. He is the author of Central Bank Independence: Cultural Codes and Symbolic Performances (2012) and editor of Cultural Agents Reloaded: The Legacy of Antanas Mockus (2018).
Summary
This book approaches today's 'front page' issues in Latin America in a unique and compelling way - by framing them inside civil sphere theory, a sociological model of the institutional and culture underpinnings and contradictions of democracy.
