Cathy A. Rakowski

Convergence and divergence in the informal sector debate: A focus on Latin America, 1984–92

Abstract Over the years, the “informal sector debate” has increased its complexity and expanded its ambit. For this reason, academics, policy makers, and practitioners frequently have difficulty understanding a phenomenon referred to by a term used in different ways and supported by data produced through a variety of methods to fit competing agendas. The objective of the present paper is to explain the debate, particularly for 1984–1992 as applied to the informal sector in Latin America. The paper identifies the approaches/perspectives and personalities involved in the debate, assesses points of agreement or divergence, and clarifies policy implications.

The Ugly Scholar: Neocolonialism and Ethical Issues in international Research

As a discipline, sociology has had to confront criticism of the nature and ends of sociological research and ethnical dilemmas in the study of social problems and people. Over time guidelines have appeared to aid in protecting subjects and colleagues (e.g., the ASA Code of Ethics) and to guarantee research standards (e.g., the peer-reviewed proposal process, human subjects committees). However, guidelines tend not to address the challenges sociologists face in international research. This results in unpleasant experiences and potentially endangers research and researcher alike. This articles responds to the gap in the literature on ethical issues in international research. It draws on writings by social scientists and from the author’s experience in Latin America.

Global restructuring, employment, and social inequality in urban Latin America

This volumes multi-disciplinary cast of authors uses a comparative framework to explore the implications of global transformations and national development policies for urban employment and social inequality in Latin America. It examines socioeconomic change in labour markets.

FARMERS' CHANGING ROLES IN THIEUDEME, SENEGAL The Impact of Local and Global Factors on Three Generations of Women

This article focuses on the changing roles of the women farmers of Thieudeme, Senegal. Sociological concepts and methods are combined with womens perceptions to more fully understand the nature of role change from part-time subsistence farming of hardy staples to full-time farming and marketing of vegetables among three generations of women and to compare womens perceptions of change factors with those identified through research and policy analysis. The authors also consider the associations among womens traditional arenas of decision making, increased responsibilities for household maintenance, improved status in the community, and organizing and demands for greater autonomy. Women are more likely to emphasize stress from work burdens and conflicts than to conclude that change has brought them any benefits.

Women's Coalitions as a Strategy at the Intersection of Economic and Political Change in Venezuela

This essay presents an overview of womens coalitions during economic and political crises. Evidence suggests that success can be explained by opportunities opened by crises, international funding and agendas, and threats to previously won rights. The paper considers the decline of womens organizing in the late 1980s and early 1990s; the shift from civil society initiatives to greater involvement by politicians and femocrats; the emergence of short-term, more focused coalitions; and a rhetoric that became more clearly feminist throughout the 1990s and into the new millennium.

Obstacles and Opportunities to Women' s Empowerment under Neoliberal Reform

Although neoliberal economics purports to be “ gender neutral” and focused on “ individuals” and “ markets,” ample evidence exists that it is gender biased both in its outcomes and in its implicit assumptions about gender roles. However, in spite of the gender bias in reforms and — conversely — the attention given to gender issues in some compensatory social policies, the specie c nature of their impacts are variable. Their impacts may be negative under some conditions and positive under others. Even the negative impacts of reforms can have a positive side; women may be empowered personally, socially and politically even as (or because) their workload and poverty increases. Moreover, some researchers argue that under neoliberal economic restructuring women’ s roles as shock absorbers lead to a breakdown in patriarchal norms, and thereby increase the opportunities for women to empower themselves. This article reviews the arguments and evidence for these different perspectives.

Challenges and Opportunities for a Human Rights Frame in South Korea Context and Strategizing in the Anti-Domestic Violence Movement

Korean feminists are keenly aware that transnational feminists emphasize a human rights framework to eradicate violence against women. But in the 1990s, they based their anti-domestic violence campaign on a frame of “preservation of the family” because it was more culturally resonant at the time than a human rights frame. The results include passage of two legislative Acts, failure to implement as intended, and a continued search for a more effective frame. Ironically, the human rights frame has re-emerged as a possible solution.

Evaluating a social impact assessment: Short‐ and long‐term outcomes in a developing country

No matter how well‐designed, social impact assessments (SIAs) of economic development projects may not be able to overcome political and financial factors that preclude immediate adoption of recommendations to improve social impacts. In some cases, differences in values and assumptions held by diverse SIA participants—especially from distinct cultures and professions—may lead them to evaluate and respond differently to the SIA experience. As a result, the SIA may have more subtle outcomes, such as increasing awareness of social issues or generating public debate, that ultimately may be as important to social welfare as adoption of recommendations. Because the success of some SIAs may be indirect, unanticipated, and longer term, contextual factors and timing should be considered in evaluating the SIAs relative success and usefulness.

Women’s Work and Lives in Rural Greece: Appearances and Realities

This book has a catchy title and nice cover art, adding to the reader’s anticipation that it will be an absorbing—and entertaining— read. The price is reasonable, making it potentially attractive as a text. And the book is, in fact, generally quite well written. America’s romance with technology is complicated, contradictory, and confusing, and it certainly deserves more scholarly attention. However, much has already been written on this subject, not enough of which finds its way into the pages of this book. The introduction suggests that its author, fiction writer and English professor Glen Scott Allen, imagines an audience largely unfamiliar with social and cultural studies of science and technology, and tends to leave the impression that he is unfamiliar with much of this work himself. Allen concentrates on what he sees as Americans’ suspicion of the purely scientific, as opposed to the technological, a suspicion that he correctly surmises may have roots in social class distinctions. He reports that in researching this book, he ‘‘began to wonder to what extent . . . American culture [has] shaped American scientific practice’’ (p. 5), as though this were an entirely original question. In Chapter One, he marvels that in 1848 the American Association for the Advancement of Science adopted promotion of the ‘‘purer’’ sciences as its goal (p. 17), and in general implies surprise at his discovery of the social, political, and class-based character of science (although it is not exactly clear how the AAAS vision is an argument that Americans distrust science, instead of an argument that at least some of us approve of it). He discusses the ‘‘selling’’ of American science in Chapter Three without any apparent reference either to the work of sociologist Dorothy Nelkin or to that of media historian Marcel Lafollette, two scholars especially well-known for their careful documentation of how media representations of science and technology have historically served this purpose. Then, in Chapter Four, Allen presents American Pragmatism without reference to John Dewey, who makes only a cameo appearance a few pages later. Surely Dewey’s contribution to Pragmatism would have been an excellent pillar on which to build any argument about American perspectives on practical knowledge. Finally, as a postscript about two pages from the end of the entire work, Allen confesses that two issues ‘‘not specifically addressed in this book are race and gender’’ (p. 260). Struggling to express my reaction to this latter statement in particularly appropriate scholarly language, the phrase that seems to sum it up best is : ‘‘Well, duh!’’ While some of Allen’s insights into American culture are intriguing—for example, our preference for the practical and our obsession with efficiency certainly ring true—they are not ideally persuasive as presented because of the book’s tendency to ignore too many important issues and scholars. Allen may have read more broadly in the sociology and history of science – as well as in media studies and philosophy—than this presentation of his subject matter implies; if so, he ought to have reflected this reading in what he has written here. A dose of empiricism may be helpful in this context. While it seems to be true (on the basis of most relevant opinion polls) that today’s Americans prefer science that has economic or social benefits (for example, science that creates jobs, health, and wealth), it is also true that Americans continue to like and trust science as well as technology (even while some segments are doubtful about specific points, such as evolution and climate change). If, as Allen apparently takes as his premise, suspicion of all things purely scientific is a peculiarly American cultural

EnGENDERing Wealth and Well-Being: Empowerment for Global Change.@@@Paying the Price: Women and the Politics of International Economic Strategy.

The fundamental implications of the debt crisis for social reproduction, George C. Caffentzis economic crisis and demographic policy in sub-Saharan Africa - the Nigerian case, Silvia Federici African women, development and the North-South relationship, Andre Michel pauperization and women participation in social movements in Brazil, Alda Britto da Motta and Inaia M.M. de Carvalho development and economic crisis - womens labour and social policies in Venezuala, Giovanna F. Dalla Costa.