The Dynamics of Social Change in Latin America [Hardcover]

This study examines fundamental theoretical and conceptual issues of social change in Latin America in the context of detailed empirical analysis. It challenges the major assumptions and propositions that underlie globalization theory, reworking and fine tuning the concepts of imperialism and social class as relevant to understanding the 'new world order'. The study centers on the structural features of Latin America and the state policies reconcentrating power in the capitalist class at the expense of labor. The study surveys the contradictory tendencies of concentrated wealth and power and the emergence of new socio-political movements and alternative development strategies to the dominant paradigm.Introduction Development in the New Imperial Context of Globalization The Neoliberal Project and the Search for Another Paradigm Restructuring Labour in Latin America Decentralization and Community-based Development The Neoliberal Electoral Cycle New Social Movements The Socialist Project Index

... this book constitutes a valuable intellectual contribution.... - Choice

...a valuable contribution by raising a discussion about the merits of alternative paths for the Left in Latin America. - Contemporary Sociology

HENRY VELTMEYER is Professor of Sociology and International Development at St Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and Visiting Professor of Political Science at the Autonomous University of Zacatecas, Mexico. He has published in areas of sociological theory, Canadian political economy and issues of class and developments in Latin America. He is the author of inter alia The Canadian Class Structure and Canadian Corporate Power, and (with F.Leiva and J.Petras) Poverty and Democracy in Chile.

JAMES PETRAS is Professor of Sociology and Latin American studies at Binghamton University. He is the author of over 30 books dealing primarill3Y