Page 371 - The ISA Handbook in Contemporary Sociology

9781412934633-Chap-23 1/10/09 8:55 AM Page 342

342 THE ISA HANDBOOK IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGY

adopted it after 13 years of debates and intensive in the university sector: hiring teachers, more
pressures from and negotiations with the funds for education and control of the monthly
national social movements that demanded urban increases in tuition at private universities).
reform, such as the National Forum for Urban 13 Religious movements to defend different beliefs,
Reform; (b) networks of popular social move- sects and traditions.
ments of the homeless (street-dwellers and 14 Youth cultural movements.
squatters) and their networks of articulation with 15 Movements of popular cooperatives.
the unemployed. They are supported by pastoral 16 The movement against the construction of dams,
movements of the Catholic Church and are in the south and northeast of the country.
organized in such major cities as São Paulo, Belo 17 The environmental movement, that has devel-
Horizonte and Recife. oped since the United Nations Conference on
2 Actions of middle-class groups against urban vio- Environment and Development (UNICED), infor-
lence and in favour of freedom from strife (in mally known as the Earth Summit, Eco 92 that
traffic, on the streets, in schools, regarding acts took place in Rio de Janeiro, in 1992.
against people and their possessions).
3 Popular mobilization and organization based on We can observe in the above list that a
institutional structures of participation in the broadening of the demands, actors and forms
politico-administrative management of the of social movements has occurred. Some of
city (such as the Participatory Budget and the movements have become the sites of
Administrative Advisory Bodies). This type of great conflicts, notably the landless workers’
organization was introduced, among others, by movement and the movements against neo-
the Labour Party Administration in Porto Alegre
(1989–2004), São Paulo (2000–2004), and Belo liberal policies and the effects of globaliza-
Horizonte (2000–2004). When the party lost tion. Others, such as the youth cultural
the elections in 2004 in São Paulo and in Porto movements and the environmental move-
Alegre, this form of organization stopped. ment, are organized in NGOs. They develop
5
4 ‘Mobilizations’ and movements to recover envi- competitive relations among themselves
ronmental structures, both of a physical-spatial because they have to apply for resources from
nature, such as squares and parks, as well as of the same agencies in order to survive. Other
collective equipment and services (in the fields of new movements, such as the cooperative
health, education, leisure, sports and other public movements (recycling of materials, for
services which have degenerated over the past example), have developed relations predomi-
few years due to neo-liberal policies). nantly of cooperation, among themselves and
5 ‘Mobilizations’ of union movements against
unemployment. with NGOs.
6 Movements of solidarity and support for street The Marxist theoretical approach has
children, adolescent drug-users, HIV carriers and inspired the leadership of the trade union
others with special needs. movements in their ‘mobilizations’ against
7 ‘Mobilizations’ of the Movement of Landless unemployment, as well as the leaders of
Workers (MST), in the camps (which are discussed the ‘mobilizations’ and movements of the
in more detail in a later section of this chapter). Movement of Landless Workers (MST), in
8 Ethnic-racial movements of Indians and those of the camps. The popular organization based
African descent. on institutional structures of participation in
9 Movements involving gender issues (women and the politico-administrative management of the
homosexuals). city (Participatory Budget and Administrative
10 Movements such as the World Social Forum
against neo-liberal policies and the effects of Advisory Bodies) has been constructed, and
globalization (against the Free Trade Area of the analyzed using rational choice theory, the
Americas, the FTAA). rationality of participation and deliberation
11 Movements for demanding human and cultural of the people are considered. In other move-
rights. ments that appear on the above list, the lead-
12 Movements for education (in the popular sector: ers are inspired by the cultural theoretical
for nursery schools and for places in state schools; approach. These movements are pluralistic in