Page 389 - The ISA Handbook in Contemporary Sociology

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360 THE ISA HANDBOOK IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGY

Table 24.3 ‘What should be done in order to put the country on the right track?’
EL SALVADOR HONDURAS
WORD TF PF Z WORD TF PF Z
change 89 42 11 sectors 134 51 9
debt 13 11 7 everyone 186 64 9
FMLN 93 36 7 development 80 34 8
ignorance 14 10 6 (to) change 25 16 7
(it) needs 28 14 5 democracy 22 15 7
crisis 20 11 5 government 296 82 6
(we) want 27 14 5 civil society 24 14 6
(we) need 22 12 5 (to) demand 11 8 5
problems 52 21 5 vision 16 10 5
measure 30 15 5 change 29 14 5
(to) live 14 8 4 political 39 18 5
sectors 39 15 4 project 43 18 5
in front of 44 17 4 society 67 25 5
(to) work 43 17 4 (to) think 22 11 4
allow 10 7 4 difficult 46 17 4
policies 57 20 4 (we) think 18 10 4
solution 10 7 4 (to) work 40 16 4
centre 24 11 4 changes 40 17 4
government 281 70 4 possible 20 11 4
solve 14 8 4 (we) should 19 10 4
needs 28 12 4 to be able to 192 52 4
population 93 27 3 new 10 7 4
(to) talk 34 12 3 plan 31 14 4
(they) can 39 13 3 people 264 65 4
state 86 24 3 will 14 8 4
constitution 26 11 3 politics 84 23 3
(to) begin 11 6 3 real 15 7 3
(to) try 12 7 3 (we) want 52 18 3
democracy 24 10 3 (we) need 22 10 3
changes 25 10 3 popular 57 17 3
development 26 11 3 own 13 7 3
politicians 64 21 3
president 33 13 3
proposition 23 9 3
situation 94 26 3
TF: Total Frequency – number of times a given word appears in the activists’ discourse as a whole;
PF: Partial Frequency – number of times a given word is used by activists to respond to a specific question;
Z: Level of significance of the difference between the expected partial frequency and the observed partial frequency

the singular and plural noun). We also see in with the help of faith ... and democracy, well, we
both samples the terms ‘democracy’ and would have something better ... (Case S13. Male
participant in a political movement in El Salvador).
‘development’. In what would have been
denounced by the left as ‘reformist’ language Many respondents identify themselves with
not long ago, the respondents have tended to the ideological left (and several women with
frame their narrative in terms of ‘lacking’ the ‘women’s movement’), and they hope for
(the word ‘lack’ itself is a distinctive notion a major change in politics. But in most
in the answers to the question about injus- instances, they put forward a desire for better
tices in both samples) and the need for governance rather than for a project of struc-
‘more’ and ‘better’: tural transformation:
... a significant change that would produce a I believe that it’s there where we could begin to
better environment ... to hope for a stronger left ... change our country, to have a stable and engaged