SOC 191V
Prof. César J. Ayala
Sociology Department, UCLA
Spring 2024
SOC 191V
Prof. César J. Ayala
Sociology Department, UCLA
Spring 2024
Office: Haines Hall 245
Office Hours: Fridays, 9:00-10:00 am
TEL: 310-267-4306
Zoom Link for Office Hours
Click Here for Course Page in Canvas
After approximately 1980, the import substitution orientation of many Latin American economies was dismantled and replaced with regimes we now call “neoliberal.” Common features of all the processes of neoliberalization were an emphasis on markets as opposed to state intervention in the economy, privatization of state-owned enterprises, dismantling of many subsidies and social protections enjoyed by the working class under previous regimes, an emphasis on decentralization, and attacks on unions, peasant organizations, and many other forms of collective resistance to unfettered market economies. This course examines processes of resistance to neoliberalism in Latin America.
Textbook: We will use Eduardo Silva, Challenging Neoliberalism in Latin America (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009) as the basic textbook for this course, complemented by supplementary readings. The book is available for download from the library, no purchase is necessary.
Course Requirements: All students should come to class prepared, having done the assigned reading and be prepared to discuss the material. The midterm and final may be an essay question assigned a week in advance to be turned in as a typed essay in class or they may involve writing an essay/essays in the classroom in response to one or several discussion questions.
Grading: The final grade will be computed as follows:
- Attendance and Class Participation: 30%*
- Midterm: 35%
- Final: 35%
* More than 3 absences from the class will result in a failing grade in the course. As part of the class participation grade, students are expected to turn in a one page reaction paper every week on one of the readings. One page is equal to 250 words.When writing your reaction papers, it is useful to think of these questions: What is the central question the author seeks to answer? How does the author go about answering it (what are the methods and the sources)? Why is this question important? Do you think the answer is adequate? That is a lot to ask in 250 words but you may extend yourself up to 500 words if needed. |
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Week 1: Introductiom
Introduction, presentation of the course syllabus.
Movie: Even The Rain
Week 2: Neoliberalism
John Maldonado, Diego Ayala-McCormick, Miguel A. Centeno, and Agustin E. Ferraro. "The Neoliberal State in Latin America," in Ferraro, A., & Centeno, M. A. (2023). State and Nation Making in Latin America and Spain : the Neoliberal State and Beyond. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108873031
Harvey, David. (2005). A Brief History of Neoliberalism. New York: Oxford University Press. (Ch. 1, 2, 4)
Optional:
Centeno, Miguel A., and Joseph N. Cohen. 2012. “The Arc of Neoliberalism,” Annual Review of Sociology 38 (1): 317–40.
Week 3: “Polanyian” Resistance to the Market
Block, & Polanyi, K. (2003). "Karl Polanyi and the Writing of “The Great Transformation,” Theory and Society, 32(3), 275–306.
Mann, M. (2013). “Neoliberalism, rise and faltering, 1970-2000,” In Mann, M. The Sources of Social Power (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013), Volume 4, Globalizations, 1945-2011, (p. 129-178) | Bibliography
Week 4: The Inconvenient Fact of Resistance to Neoliberalism
Silva, Challenging Neoliberalism, pp. i-55.
MIDTERM ESSAY QUESTION
Week 5: Argentina
Silva, Challenging Neoliberalism, pp. 53-102
Week 6: Bolivia
Silva, Challenging Neoliberalism, pp. 103-146
Optional:
Postero, & Fabricant, N. (2019). "Indigenous sovereignty and the new developmentalism in plurinational Bolivia,"Anthropological Theory, 19(1), 95–119.
Kennemore, Amy, Nancy Postero, and Rafael Segovia. “Cómo entender la crisis electoral de 2019 en Bolivia - Making Sense Of the 2019 Electoral Crisis In Bolivia: Lecciones de los movimientos sociales indígenas,” Foro Internacional 62, no. 4 (250) (2022): 877–900.
Fabricant, & Postero, N. (2015). "Sacrificing Indigenous Bodies and Lands: The Political-Economic History of Lowland Bolivia in Light of the Recent TIPNIS Debate," The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology, 20(3), 452–474.00
Week 7: Ecuador
Silva, Challenging Neoliberalism, pp. 147-194
Week 8: Venezuela (1)
Silva, Challenging Neoliberalism, 195-229
López Maya, Margarita. (2014). Venezuela: "The Political Crisis of Post-Chavismo," Social Justice (San Francisco, Calif.), 40(4 (134)), 68–87.
Film: The Revolution Won’t be Televised
López Maya, Margarita. 2003. "Hugo Chavez Frías: His Movement and His Presidency." In Venezuelan Politics in the Chávez Era, edited by S. Ellener and D. Hellinger,. Boulder. Luynne Rienner.
Week 9: Venezuela (2)
Ellner, Steve. (2017). "Venezuela’s Fragile Revolution: From Chávez to Maduro," Monthly Review (New York. 1949), 69(5), 1–14.
López Maya, Margarita. (2018). "Populism, 21st-century socialism and corruption in Venezuela," Thesis Eleven, 149(1), 67–83.
Hetland. (2017). "From System Collapse to Chavista Hegemony: The Party Question in Bolivarian Venezuela," Latin American Perspectives, 44(1), 17–36.
López Maya, Margarita. 2024. "Venezuela ¿por qué cayó la democracia?," Revista Mexicana de Sociología, 20 (86): 120-143. | Translation by César Ayala
Please read before final exam
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), "Venezuela Crisis: 7.1 m leave country since 2015," October 17, 2022.
United Nations High Commission for Refugees, "Venezuela Situation Fact Sheet, May 2024."
Week 10: Final Exam
OPTIONAL: Chile
Silva, Challenging Neoliberalism, 230-265
Rojas, René. (2016). "Out of the Ashes: The Resurrection of the Chilean Labor Movement," New Labor Forum, 25(2), 36–46.
Optional
Rojas, René (2022). "Chile’s Resurgent Left," Catalyst. 6(1): Spring 2022.
Optional: Balance Sheet of Neoliberalism and Resistance to Neoliberalism
Michael Mann, The Sources of Social Power, vol. 4, Chapter 10, "Global Crisis: The Great Neoliberal Recession."
Cohen, & Centeno, M. A. (2006). "Neoliberalism and Patterns of Economic Performance, 1980-2000," The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 606(1), 32–67.
Perry Anderson, Brazil Apart, London: Verso: 2019.
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