Social thinkers have criticized Latin American development as incomplete, backward, and anti-modern. This volume demonstrates that, while often deeply compromised and fragmented, Latin American civil spheres have remained resilient, institutionally and culturally, generating new oppositional movements, independent journalism, rebellious intellectuals, electoral power, and critical political parties. In widely different arenas, dissidents have employed the coruscating language of the civil sphere to pollute their oppressors in the name of justice. In the 1970s and 1980s, political thinkers heralded the resurrection of Latin American civil society, envisioning a new world of freedom and stability. Corruption, inequality, racism, and exclusion become pressing and urgent 'social problems', not despite the promises of democracy, but because of them. The premise of this volume is that Latin American civil spheres are powerful, even as they are compromised, creating challenges to anti-civil culture and institutions that trigger social reform. It is the first of three volumes that place civil sphere theory in a global context.
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.
