Working paper
Social Inequality and Social Policy outside the OECD
(A New Research Perspective on Latin America)
Abstract
Almost all Latin American countries are still marked by extreme forms of social inequality – and to an extent, this seems to be the case regardless of national differences in the economic development model or the strength of democracy and the welfare state. Recent research highlights the fact that the heterogeneous labour markets in the region are a key source of inequality. At the same time, there is a strengthening of ‘exclusive’ social policy, which is located at the fault lines of the labour market and is constantly (re-)producing market-mediated disparities. In the last three decades, this type of social policy has even enjoyed democratic legitimacy. These dynamics challenge many of the assumptions guiding social policy and democratic theory, which often attempt to account for the specificities of the region by highlighting the purported flaws of certain policies. We suggest taking a different perspective: social policy in Latin American should not be grasped as a deficient or flawed type of social policy, but as a very successful relation of political domination. ‘Relational social analysis’ locates social policy in the ‘tension zone’ constituted by the requirements of economic reproduction, demands for democratic legitimacy and the relative autonomy of the state. From this vantage point, we will make the relation of domination in question accessible for empirical research. It seems particularly useful for this purpose to examine the recent shifts in the Latin American labour markets, which have undergone numerous reforms. We will examine which mechanisms, institutions and constellations of actors block or activate the potentials of redistribution inherent in such processes of political reform. This will enable us to explore the socio-political field of forces that has been perpetuating the social inequalities in Latin America for generations.
Citation
@unpublished{urn:nbn:de:hebis:34-2015030247557,
author={Burchardt, Hans-Jürgen and Weinmann, Nico},
title={Social Inequality and Social Policy outside the OECD},
year={2012}
}
0500 Oax 0501 Text $btxt$2rdacontent 0502 Computermedien $bc$2rdacarrier 1100 2012$n2012 1500 1/eng 2050 ##0##urn:nbn:de:hebis:34-2015030247557 3000 Burchardt, Hans-Jürgen 3010 Weinmann, Nico 4000 Social Inequality and Social Policy outside the OECD :A New Research Perspective on Latin America / Burchardt, Hans-Jürgen 4030 4060 Online-Ressource 4085 ##0##=u http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:hebis:34-2015030247557=x R 4204 \$dWorking paper 4170 ICDD Working Papers ;; No. 5 7136 ##0##urn:nbn:de:hebis:34-2015030247557
2015-03-02T12:00:47Z 2015-03-02T12:00:47Z 2012-01 urn:nbn:de:hebis:34-2015030247557 http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/2015030247557 eng ICDD, International Center for Development and Decent Work, University of Kassel Urheberrechtlich geschützt https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/ 320 Social Inequality and Social Policy outside the OECD Working paper Almost all Latin American countries are still marked by extreme forms of social inequality – and to an extent, this seems to be the case regardless of national differences in the economic development model or the strength of democracy and the welfare state. Recent research highlights the fact that the heterogeneous labour markets in the region are a key source of inequality. At the same time, there is a strengthening of ‘exclusive’ social policy, which is located at the fault lines of the labour market and is constantly (re-)producing market-mediated disparities. In the last three decades, this type of social policy has even enjoyed democratic legitimacy. These dynamics challenge many of the assumptions guiding social policy and democratic theory, which often attempt to account for the specificities of the region by highlighting the purported flaws of certain policies. We suggest taking a different perspective: social policy in Latin American should not be grasped as a deficient or flawed type of social policy, but as a very successful relation of political domination. ‘Relational social analysis’ locates social policy in the ‘tension zone’ constituted by the requirements of economic reproduction, demands for democratic legitimacy and the relative autonomy of the state. From this vantage point, we will make the relation of domination in question accessible for empirical research. It seems particularly useful for this purpose to examine the recent shifts in the Latin American labour markets, which have undergone numerous reforms. We will examine which mechanisms, institutions and constellations of actors block or activate the potentials of redistribution inherent in such processes of political reform. This will enable us to explore the socio-political field of forces that has been perpetuating the social inequalities in Latin America for generations. open access A New Research Perspective on Latin America Burchardt, Hans-Jürgen Weinmann, Nico ICDD Working Papers ;; No. 5 ICDD Working Papers No. 5
The following license files are associated with this item:
:Urheberrechtlich geschützt