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actions of protest, resistance and struggle Jeff Goodwin, George Yúdice, Hank Johnston,
that predominated in the 1980s (especially Bert Klandermans, Aldon Morris, Joshua Cohen,
Joan Scott, John McCarthy, Anthony Oberschall,
since this form is still very strong in rural
Doug McAdam, Margrit Mayer, John Logan, Robert
areas). This process feeds on the conquests Putnam and Pierre Hamel.
made by social movements, mainly those 5 In Brazil, campaigns, protests, marches and the
consolidated by law. But it has translated the like, are called ‘mobilizations’.
practices of those movements into practices 6 Neighbourhood associations, composed of local
citizens organized on a voluntary basis, have organ-
of a non-political nature, and reformulated
ized such collective initiatives as cooperatives. These
the objectives of collective actions, of strug- associations are different from NGOs, which are insti-
gles against social exclusion generated by the tutionalized, and which can help the associations to
economic model, in favour of agendas that organize the cooperative, for example.
seek inclusion and social integration into the 7 Florestan Fernandes was a famous Brazilian
sociologist. He was a Marxist, member of the
current economic model, within the moulds
Workers Party-PT, elected federal deputy in the
proposed by the government and funding 1980s. He died in the 1990s.
agencies. In some cases, however, social
movements from the 1980s – for example,
the housing movement – have established a
fruitful dialogue with the new NGOs and REFERENCES
other civil associations, creating new Forums
and networks in the public sphere. Alexander, Jeffrey C. (2006) The Civil Sphere.
Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Avritzer, Leonardo (org) (2004) Participação em
São Paulo. São Paulo: UNESP.
NOTES
Bobbio, Noberto, Matteucci, Nicola and
Pasquino, Gianfranco (1985) Dicionário de
1 ‘Associativismo’ is a Portuguese word which is
widely used in Brazilian sociology. We could define Política. Brasília: Ed. Universidade de Brasília.
‘associativismo’ as a tendency or action of members Cardoso, Marcos (2002) O Movimento Negro.
of social groups, usually from popular classes, to con- Belo Horizonte: Maza Edições.
gregate in representative associations – unions, for Castells, Manuel (1996) The Rise of the Network
instance – or in social movements, or in non-govern- Society. The Information Age: Economy,
mental organizations, for the defence of their inter- Society and Culture. Vol. I. Oxford: Blackwell.
ests. One alternative is to use the word Castells, Manuel (1997) The Power of Identity.
associativismo between inverted commas in an Oxford: Blackwell.
English text. I have found one example in the World Cohen, Jean and Arato, Andrew E. (1992) Civil
Development Report 2006 (UNDP, 2006), that says: Society and Political Theory. Cambridge: The
‘In most countries, cooperatives and producer associ- MIT Press.
ations co-exist. Such is the case for instance in Brazil
where the “associativismo” is very active in the Coelho, Vera S. (2004) ‘Conselhos de saúde
Northwest and in the south of the country and is enquanto instituições políticas: o que está fal-
taking root too in Cerrados’. In this chapter I will use tando?’, in Vera Coelho e Marcos Nobre,
the word ‘associativism’ to express ‘associativismo’. Participação e Deliberação: teoria democrática
2 NGOs- (Non Governmental Organizations) are e experiências institucionais no Brasil contem-
juridical forms; they are institutionalized and non- porâneo. [Participation and Deliberation:
profit organizations. Civil associations are also institu- Democratic Theory and Institutional
tional forms, but not necessarily non-profit. A social Experiences in Contemporary Brazil].
movement is a collective action organized by civil São Paulo: 34 Letras. pp. 255–69.
society; it is not institutionalized. Costa, Sérgio (2002) As cores de Ercília-Esfera
3 In 1984, the military regime ended and democ-
racy returned to Brazil. Democracy was formally insti- pública, democracia, configurações pós-
tutionalized with the new 1988 Constitution. nacionais. Belo Horizonte: Ed. UFMG.
4 Without providing an exhaustive list, here are Costa, Sérgio (2006) Dois Atlânticos. Teoria
some authors who deserve special mention: Charles social, anti-racismo, cosmopolitismo. Belo
Tilly, Jean Cohen, Andrew Arato, Sidney Tarrow, Horizonte: Ed. UFMG.