The Market and the Masses in Latin America

Policy Reform and Consumption in Liberalizing Economies
Erscheinungsjahr 2009
ISBN: 978-0-521-15623-3
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 358 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 581 g

Reihe: Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics

What do ordinary citizens in developing countries think about free markets? Conventional wisdom views globalization as an imposition on unwilling workers in developing nations, concluding that the recent rise of the Latin American left constitutes a popular backlash against the market. In this book, Baker marshals public opinion data from eighteen Latin American countries to show that most of the region's citizens are enthusiastic about globalization because it has lowered the prices of many consumer goods and services while improving their variety and quality. Among recent free-market reforms, only privatization has caused pervasive discontent because it has raised prices for services like electricity and telecommunications. Citizens' sharp awareness of these consumer consequences informs Baker's argument that a political economy of consumption has replaced a previously dominant politics of labor and class in Latin America.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Baker, Andy

Fachgebiete

• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Wirtschaftspolitik, politische Ökonomie
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Freizeitsoziologie, Konsumsoziologie, Alltagssoziologie, Populärkultur
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Systeme Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Regierungspolitik Wirtschafts- und Finanzpolitik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Part I. Introduction and Theory: 1. Consuming the Washington consensus; 2. Theoretical framework: the top-down and bottom-up sources of public opinion; Part II. Mass Beliefs about Market Policies in Latin America: 3. The economic consequences and elite rhetoric of market reform in Latin America; 4. Are Latin Americans neoliberals?; 5. Are the poor neoliberals?; Part III. Mass Support for Reform in Brazil: 6. The economic consequences and elite rhetoric of market reform in Brazil; 7. How many Brazilians support market reforms?; 8. Which Brazilians support market reforms?; Part IV. Conclusion: 9. The politics of consumismo in Latin America.

Über Autor(innen)

Baker, Andy
Andy Baker is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Colorado, Boulder. His research on mass political behavior, political economy, and electoral systems has been published in the American Journal of Political Science, DuBois Review, Electoral Studies, World Politics, and various edited volumes. He has also been a contributor on two National Science Foundation grants and a recipient of two Social Science Research Council fellowships. He received his PhD from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 2001 and previously taught at the University of Houston and Northeastern University, Boston.