ISTR Sixth International Conference Toronto, Canada / July 11-14, 2004 Contesting Citizenship and Civil Society in a Divided World

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	Abstracts

The problem os social exclusion in the construction of a citizens' movement
by
Ilse Scherer-Warren
Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina/ufsc

The struggles against poverty and social exclusion, which were at the heart of the debate in the Marxist apogee, but which had limitations regarding the inclusion of other multiple forms of socio-cultural segregation (gender, ethnics, age, regions and others) because of class reductionism, were put into a relative ostracism by the theory and practice of the new social movements. The increase of social-cultural inequality, especially in the non-hegemonic countries currently involved in globalization, brings back the old questions of misery, poverty and relative inequality, but now associating them to questions of discrimination, quality of life, right to difference, etc. In the light of a critical review of the theories about poverty and social exclusion (see, BAYAT; CAVALCANTI & BURITY; FRIEDMANN; POCHMANN & AMORIM; REIS & SCHWARTZMAN: TELLES; and others) I intend to reflect upon the possibilities of the collective actions of NGO’s and social movements articulating struggles against poverty and inequality with the politics of difference and of democratic participation in the public sphere, working towards the construction of a citizens’ movement in a broad sense.

Agreeing with the approaches that conceive the collective subjects in their multiple identities and in their struggles for recognition, the article aims to develop an analysis of social movements as a network that connects subjects and civil organizations, as an expression of social and cultural diversities and open identities in permanent constitution, seeking for recognition in the public sphere. Several dimensions in the analysis of the movement as a network will be considered: sociability, spatiality and temporality. I will examine how movements of diverse social identities are meeting and networking around activities of advocacy, struggle against poverty and social exclusion, from local to the national level in Brazil and to transnational level. I will consider, also, how the grassroots organizations of the poor are networking with organizations and movements of other identities (ecological, feminist, ethnics, human rights NGOs and so on), in order to participate in policy-making and the construction of a more democratic and socially and culturally inclusive public sphere in general The article will be concluded with an appreciation about the most typical possibilities of the interconnection of the subjects in collective actions in developing societies in process of globalization.

Bibliographical references: BAYAT, Asef. From “dangerous classes” to “quiet rebels”: politics of the urban subaltern in the Global South. In: International Sociology, 15, 3: 533-557, 2000.

CAVALCANTI, Helenilda & BURITY, Joanildo (org.). Polifonia da miséria: uma construção de novos olhares. Recife: Fundação Joaquim Nabuco/Ed. Massangana, 2002.

FRIEDMANN, John. Rethinking poverty: empowerment and citizen rights, International Social Science Journal, 148: 161-172, 1996.

POCHMANN, Márcio & AMORIM, Ricardo. Atlas da exclusão social no Brasil. São Paulo: Cortez, 2003.

REIS, Elisa Pereira & SCHWARTZMAN, Simon. Pobreza e exclusão social: Aspectos sócio políticos. Banco Mundial, paper, 2002.

TELLES, Vera da Silva. Pobreza e cidadania. São Paulo: USP, Curso de Pós-Graduação em Sociologia: Ed. 34, 2001.

Date received: September 21, 2003

Copyright © 2003 by the author(s). The author(s) of this document and the organizers of the conference have granted their consent to include this abstract in Atlas Conferences Inc. Document # call-63.