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1. Cuba's New Social Structure: Assessing the Re-Stratification of Cuban Society 60 Years after Revolution

Author:
Katrin Hansing and Bert Hoffman
Publication Date:
02-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
Few political transformations have attacked social inequalities more thoroughly than the 1959 Cuban Revolution. However, as the survey data in this paper shows, 60 years on, structural inequalities which echo the pre-revolutionary socio-ethnic hierarchies are returning. While official Cuban statistics are mute about social differences along racial lines, the authors were able to conduct a unique, nationwide survey which shows the contrary. If the revolutionary, state-run economy and radical social policies were the main social elevators for the formerly underprivileged classes in socialist Cuba, the economic crisis and depressed wages of the past decades have seriously undercut these achievements. Moreover, previously racialised migration patterns have produced highly unequal levels of access to family remittances, and the gradual opening of the private business sector in Cuba has largely disfavoured Afro-Cubans, due to their lack of access to pre-revolutionary property and remittances in the form of start-up capital. While social and racial inequalities have not yet reached the levels of other Latin American countries, behind the face of socialist continuity a profound restructuring of Cuban society is taking place.
Topic:
Civil Society, Race, Social Stratification, and Inequality
Political Geography:
Cuba, Caribbean, and North America

2. WHY DOES COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION AROUSE OUR INTEREST? AN APPROACH TO THE ORGANIZATIONAL MODES DEVELOPED BY RINGUELET SETTLEMENT NEIGHBORS DURING THEIR RELOCATION

Author:
Sofia Bernat
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The New School Graduate Program in International Affairs
Abstract:
This first version of our essay is part of the doctoral dissertation “Socio-urban transformations and everyday life: relocation of Ringuelet’s settlement (2013-2017). Inhabiting (after) the flood”. Its aim is to analyze -from a qualitative and ethnographic perspective- a relocation process (in a settlement located in Ringuelet, La Plata, Argentina) to thoroughly understand the modes in which socio-urban transformations can modify structures of meanings and, thus, produce shared meanings as well as stressed meanings, as far as modes of inhabiting the territory are concerned. The neighborhood chosen is located on the banks of the El Gato stream and, after the flooding disaster which stroke the city of La Plata on April 2nd 2013, a relocation project began to take shape as it was deemed necessary to implement major hydraulic works at said site location so as to prevent another similar catastrophe from happening again. It should be emphasized that in this essay we will address the modes of organization and participation of the inhabitants of Ringuelet settlement before their move as we consider community intervention fundamental – though often disregarded – for implementing urban public policies as well as having a strong influence upon results; we also consider that processes are as important as products and that space appropriation depends, to a large extent, on this. Therefore, the question from which we start is: How do these neighbors participate in building their territories and commit themselves to belonging (or rather not to cease belonging) to the city? In the end, we will also explore the type of subject and the type of society we promote -and we long for- to constitute in such processes.
Topic:
Social Stratification, Urbanization, Local, and Settlements
Political Geography:
Argentina, South America, La Plata, and El Gato

3. Global Social Fascism: Violence, Law and Twenty-First Century Plunder

Author:
Lara Montesinos Coleman
Publication Date:
05-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Global Political Economy, University of Sussex
Abstract:
The intellectual authors of neoliberalism were aware of the lethal implications of what they advocated. For ‘the market’ to work, the state was to refuse protection to those unable to secure their subsistence, while dissidents were to be repressed. What has received less attention is how deadly neoliberal reforms increasing come wrapped in social, legal and humanistic rhetoric. We see this not only in ‘social’ and ‘legal’ rationales for tearing away safety nets in Europe’s former social democratic heartlands, but also in the ‘pro-poor’ emphasis of contemporary development discourse. This includes contexts where colonial legacies have facilitated extreme armed violence in service of corporate plunder. To expose these dynamics, I juxtapose the everyday violence of austerity in Britain with neoliberal restructuring in Colombia. The latter is instructive precisely because, in tandem with widespread state-backed terror, Colombia has held fast to the language and institutions of liberal democracy. It has, as a result, prefigured the subtle authoritarian tendencies now increasingly prominent in European states. The reconceptualization of law, rights and social policy that has accompanied neoliberal globalization is deeply fascistic. Authoritarian state power is harnessed to the power of transnational capital, often accompanied by nationalistic and racist ideologies that legitimize refusal of protection and repression, enabling spiraling inequality. Nevertheless, extending Boaventura de Sousa Santos’s discussion of ‘social fascism’, I suggest that widespread appeal to the ‘social’ benefits and ‘legal necessity’ of lethal economic policies marks a significant and Orwellian shift. Not only are democratic forces suppressed: the very meanings of democracy, rights, law and ethics are being reshaped, drastically inhibiting means of challenging corporate power.
Topic:
Human Rights, Social Stratification, Law, Fascism, and Neoliberalism
Political Geography:
Britain and Colombia

4. Group Representation for the Working Class? Opinion Differences among Occupational Groups in Germany.

Author:
Lea Elsässer and Armin Schäfer
Publication Date:
02-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies
Abstract:
In this paper, we take up the burgeoning debate about the underrepresentation of the working class in politics. In the literature section we discuss theories of group representation and look at recent empirical studies of responsiveness that have begun to disaggregate public opinion by sociodemographic categories. Empirically, we analyze a dataset of more than 700 survey items collected in Germany between 1980 and 2012. The analysis shows that respondents within one social class are more similar to each other than to members of other classes and that class-based differences outweigh those of education, region, or gender. While opinion differences are not always large, they can reach 50 percentage points. There are frequently gaps of between 20 or 30 percentage points in support for or opposition to policy changes. Since workers’ opinions tend to differ from the opinions of those groups who are well represented in parliament, their numerical underrepresentation might bias decisions against them, as recent studies suggest.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Politics, Race, Social Stratification, and Sociology
Political Geography:
Germany

5. Power, Markets, and Top Income Shares

Author:
Evelyne Huber, Huo Jingjing, and John D. Stephens
Publication Date:
04-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
The rise of the super-rich has attracted much political and academic attention in recent years. However, to date there have been few attempts to explain the cross-national variation in the recent rise of very top incomes. Drawing on the World Top Incomes Database, we study the income share of the top 1% in almost all current postindustrial democracies from 1975 to 2012. We find that extreme income concentration at the very top is a predominantly political phenomenon, not the outcome of economic changes. Top income shares are largely unrelated to economic growth, increased knowledge-intensive production, export competitiveness, market size, financialization, and wealth accumulation. Instead, they are driven by various political and policy changes that reflect a decline in the relative power and resources of labor, such as union density and centralization, secular-right governments, and cuts in top marginal income tax rates as well as in public spending on education.
Topic:
Economics, Industrial Policy, Political Economy, and Social Stratification

6. Regime Type, Inequality, and Redistributive Transfers in Developing Countries

Author:
Marina Dodlova and Anna Giolbas
Publication Date:
05-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
The debate on whether democracy and inequality increase the level of redistribution in a country is still ongoing. We construct a model that predicts a higher probability of redistribution in democracies than in autocracies. Further, with higher initial inequality, there should be more redistribution in democracies but not necessarily in autocracies. We test these predictions using data on social transfers in developing countries for the period 1960–2010. We confirm that democracy increases redistribution and, to some extent, that there is more redistribution with rising inequality. Hence, on the basis of a direct measure of redistribution, we present evidence to confirm the median voter theorem.
Topic:
Democratization, Social Stratification, and Authoritarianism

7. Inequality and Fiscal Redistribution in Middle Income Countries: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Indonesia, Mexico, Peru and South Africa

Author:
Nora Lustig
Publication Date:
08-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
This paper examines the redistributive impact of fiscal policy for Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Indonesia, Mexico, Peru and South Africa using comparable fiscal incidence analysis with data from around 2010. The largest redistributive effect is in South Africa and the smallest in Indonesia. While fiscal policy always reduces inequality, this is not the case with poverty.
Topic:
Economics, Poverty, and Social Stratification
Political Geography:
Africa, South America, and Latin America

8. The Future of Work for Low-Income Workers and Families

Author:
Vickie Choltz and Maureen Conway
Publication Date:
12-2015
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
The Future of Work for Low-Income Workers and Families is a policy brief aimed at state policy advocates and policymakers seeking to help low-income workers and their families secure healthy economic livelihoods as the nature of work evolves in the United States. Published by the Working Poor Families Project in December 2015, the brief was written by Vickie Choitz, associate director of the Economic Opportunities Program, with Maureen Conway, vice president at the Aspen Institute and executive director of the Economic Opportunities Program. This brief reviews the major forces shaping the future of work, including changes in labor and employment practices, business models, access to income and benefits, worker rights and voice, education and training, and technology. Across these areas, we are seeing disruptive change in our economy and society resulting in increasing risk and challenges for low-income workers, in particular.
Topic:
Security, Economics, Human Welfare, Social Stratification, and Employment
Political Geography:
United States

9. Reimagining Financial Security: Managing Risk and Building Wealth in an Era of Inequality

Author:
Annie Kim
Publication Date:
12-2015
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
The 2015 Financial Security Summit, titled Reimagining Financial Security: Managing Risk and Building Wealth in an Era of Inequality, took place July 15–17 in Aspen, Colorado. The Summit agenda built on FSP's core themes of expanding retirement security and children’s savings accounts for low- and moderate-income families, and began to explore a broader vision of how to improve short- and long-term dimensions of financial wellbeing in a rapidly changing economy. Participant contributions helped shape new areas of focus for FSP going forward. This report incorporates those insights and provides an outline for future policy dialogue and directions.
Topic:
Security, Economics, Human Welfare, Social Stratification, and Employment
Political Geography:
United States

10. Medicare and Medicaid: Still Transforming Health Care 50 Years Later

Publication Date:
04-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
This commentary honors and celebrates the 50th anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid, highlighting the growth, evolution, and remarkable accomplishments of two federal programs that together provide health insurance coverage to some 110 million Americans. It also recognizes President Lyndon B. Johnson, whose determination to bring these programs to life is legendary. This was prepared as part of a commemoration sponsored by the Health, Medicine and Society Program of the Aspen Institute, the LBJ Presidential Library, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Karyn Feiden researched and wrote the commentary, on behalf of the Aspen Institute. Special thanks to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation whose source material is extensively cited here.
Topic:
Health, Human Welfare, Social Stratification, Governance, and Health Care Policy