QUESTIONS (CHOOSE 3)
1. Some authors claim that citizenship issues have become more significant than
those of class in giving rise to social movements in developing countries. Drawing
on the theoretical literature and using examples, discuss the strengths and
limitations of that claim.
2. “The terms ‘class’, ‘underclass’, ‘lumpenproletariat’, ‘marginal’, and
‘informal’ all failed to adequately account for the structural position of working
populations in less developed society in the second half of the twentieth century. But
from the middle/late 1990s onwards the concept of ‘social exclusion’ has offered a
more meaningful way of encapsulating the ‘new poor’ in large less developed cities. ”
Discuss.
3. Outline the main challenges to effective urban grass-roots organization in the
cities of developing countries, such as the spatial reorganization of the city and
rising levels of crime and violence. Evaluate some of the proposed solutions, such
as participatory budgeting or community policing.
4. Examine the links between informal sector and poor people’s survival
strategies (pre and post neoliberalism in Latin America). Provide concrete empirical
examples.
5. Social movement scholars argue that pre-existing social networks and political
institutions shape social movements. How has informality in the economy and
politics shaped social mobilizations in Latin America?
6. What are the trends in social movements in Latin America since World War
II? How do they fit with wider theoretical debates on social movements?
7. How does informality shape political practices? Provide one example from
Latin America and another one from elsewhere.