Third ISA Forum of Sociology (July 10-14, 2016)

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Twenty-Five Years after Fajnzylber’s "Empty Box": A New Matrix in Latin America?

WG02 Historical and Comparative Sociology (host committee)

Language: English and Spanish

Nearly 25 years ago, Chilean economist Fernando Fajnzylber indicated that Latin America as a whole had been characterized by the lack of successful development strategies effectively combining social equity, democracy and economic growth. In the second decade of the 21st century, the social sciences are engaged in rethinking the relationship between politics, social stratification and inequality. Over time, there have been successive panaceas (from market liberalization to selective state regulation) that are purported to provide easy guidelines for addressing Fajnzylber’s “empty box.” Instead, their adoption produced mixed outcomes, from the erosion of some forms of inequalities to the persistence and further entrenchment of others. 
The session is oriented towards rethinking the relationship between politics, social stratification and inequality in Latin America, organized around three main themes:

• Historical Patterns of Inequality in Latin America: Rather than assuming that there is a simple, virtuous formula by which equity, property rights, markets and democracy tend to reinforce one another, we identify the various forms of interaction whose results indicate that less virtuous combinations have prevailed; 
• Populism, Clientelism and Inequality: We engage in critical debate and empirical evaluation on whether or not the state-centered policies of the twentieth century reproduced/reinforced existing patterns of inequality. 
• Policies and Inequality: We reassess the impact of the rise and decline of both “neoliberal” and “progressive” policy regimes, their impact on changes in patterns of inequality; and the viability of democratic political projects that can simultaneously address issues of economic growth and social equity.

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