Sociology of Fear of Crime in Latin America

Author(s):  
Gabriel Kessler ◽  
Alejandra Otamendi

Independently of the varying national homicide indexes, the fear of crime affects all socio-political dimensions across Latin American countries and influences the agendas of political parties, security markets, and everyday life. This contribution presents an overview on the fear of crime and insecurity studies in the region, focusing on two main fields: fear of crime studies showcasing similarities and differences among Latin American countries in terms of the relationship between fear and victimization, gender, class, age, and community cohesion perceptions, and the socio-cultural dimension to this phenomenon, including media influences on the fear of delinquency, the role of the state, and the general climate of ontological insecurity.

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (5) ◽  
pp. 921-942 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel A. Baeza ◽  
Jorge A. Gonzalez ◽  
Yong Wang

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study how job flexibility influences job satisfaction among Mexican professionals, and focus on the role of key socio-cultural moderators relevant to Mexican society. Design/methodology/approach The paper explore how this relationship may be more important for women, employees with dependents such as children and elder parents and younger generations of professionals (e.g. Millennials). Findings The authors find that job flexibility is positively related to job satisfaction. This relationship is stronger for employees without dependents, as well as for younger generations of professionals (e.g. Millennials). Surprisingly, the relationship between job flexibility and job satisfaction does not differ by gender. The findings explain why job flexibility is more conductive to job satisfaction for employees without dependents, who tend to belong to younger generations. Originality/value Overall, the findings present important implications for managing job flexibility in Mexico and other Latin American countries, particularly for younger professionals.


2009 ◽  
Vol 42 (04) ◽  
pp. 651-655 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evelyne Huber

Our symposium offers a variety of perspectives, such as on self-perpetuation of inequality in the international system, or on the consequences of inequality for economic growth or for social and political conflicts. This contribution discusses the determinants of domestic policy choices that affect inequality and the consequences of these policy choices. The empirical focus is on Latin American countries, which collectively are characterized by the highest regional levels of inequality in the world, but individually show considerable variation. Different analyses have emphasized different causes of income inequality and of the variation in inequality, such as historical structural roots in land distribution and natural-resource endowments, geography, ethnic divisions, the economic context, demographics, and state action or lack thereof. The role of the state has not received much systematic attention until rather recently, though, despite its essential role in the allocation of resources.


1990 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 61-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albert Fishlow

The role of the state in Latin American economic development is undergoing fundamental reconsideration. This essay focuses on the reasons underlying the new commitment to reduced state participation. In particular, I suggest that the impetus comes less from newfound ideological conviction in the virtues of the market than from ineffective macroeconomic policy in the 1980s. The principal problem confronted by the countries of the region is a fiscal shortfall, not massive inefficiency resulting from misallocation of resources. Latin America is not Eastern Europe, where reform translates into elimination of the monopoly of state ownership and the structure of central command. Latin American countries have adhered to market capitalism, but without experiencing its magical effects in recent years. It is the contest between the micro- and macroeconomic explanations that illuminates why surface agreement on a reduced state role conceals a continuing divergence of views within the region.


2016 ◽  
pp. 131-136
Author(s):  
Olga Fomina

Thе article discusses the role of the top Latin American countries in the international flows of capital and its investment attractiveness. The emphasis is made on the role of the countries in international capital flows and the relationship between Russia and Latin America in terms of investment. The analysis revealed that Latin America is becoming to play more important role nowadays on the world economic map than it used to be. Many countries are increasing their investments in Latin America despite the fact that there are a lot of difficulties which deal with the level and the pace of the economic growth and development in this region


1993 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-17
Author(s):  
Alice B. Lentz

Alice Lentz offers a brief view of the role of the Americas Fund for Independent Universities (AFIU) in relation to significant initiatives in various Latin American countries. In a region where the function and development of private higher education institutions is especially important, the focus of the AFIU's activities is on private universities' ability to provide trained business leaders with the skills necessary to meet the challenges of enterprise growth in these developing economies. She mentions in particular the strengthening of financing capabilities within the university, and the evolution of three-way partnerships among business corporations, AFIU, and universities in Latin America.


2021 ◽  
pp. 83
Author(s):  
Yakov Shemyakin

The article substantiates the thesis that modern Native American cultures of Latin America reveal all the main features of "borderland" as a special state of the socio-cultural system (the dominant of diversity while preserving the unity sui generis, embodied in the very process of interaction of heterogeneous traditions, structuring linguistic reality in accordance with this dominant, the predominance of localism in the framework of the relationship between the universal and local dimensions of the life of Latin American societies, the key role of archaism in the system of interaction with the heritage of the 1st "axial time», first of all, with Christianity, and with the realities of the "second axial time" - the era of modernization. The author concludes that modern Indian cultures are isomorphic in their structure to the "borderline" Latin American civilization, considered as a "coalition of cultures" (K. Levi-Strauss), which differ significantly from each other, but are united at the deepest level by an extremely contradictory relationship of its participants.


Author(s):  
Angel Belzunegui Eraso ◽  
David Dueñas Cid

In this chapter we focus on the growth of “new religions” and new religious movements in Latin America and attempt to find explanations for this growth. Although other explanations for the increase in religious plurality exist, we focus on the role of women in this development. The expansion of movements such as Pentecostalism is challenging the centrality of Catholicism in many Latin American countries. Basically, we therefore aim to answer the following question: Why has Pentecostalism grown so much in some Latin American countries while Catholicism has experienced a certain decline? One possible explanation for this is the role of women in this expansion, which has fostered greater social cohesion within families and communities. Pentecostalism has led to a certain empowerment of the women living in precarious conditions, affording them greater visibility and importance within their communities and giving them a role in the re-education of behaviours that are rooted in male domination.


Author(s):  
Nicola Miller

This chapter recounts the Latin American countries that welcomed foreign innovation and expertise for technically demanding infrastructure projects. It mentions how the American continent's first railways were built by Spanish American engineers under contract to the respective states, contrary to the common belief that British or US American companies always led the way. It also focuses on the visibility and intensity of public concern about the relationship between science and sovereignty in late nineteenth-century Latin America. The chapter reviews the overlooked history of resistance in Latin American countries on handing over infrastructure projects to private companies, especially if they were foreign owned. It disputes conceptions of the role of the state and provides further evidence for the argument that free-market liberals did not have their own way in nineteenth-century Latin America.


Author(s):  
Andrew S Gold

This chapter discusses how the ‘stickler-enjoining’ account of equity has important limits. While many distinctive doctrines of equity can be understood to limit stickler behaviour, equity in fact often turns a blind eye to, and sometimes even enables, stickler behaviour. One can sort cases in which equity restrains sticklers from those in which it is indifferent to stickler behaviour if one attends to the role of the state in private litigation. Sometimes the state’s responsibilities require it to protect plaintiffs against sticklers. Other times, it requires it to protect the stickler, as a means, for example, of keeping as open as possible each person’s sphere of choices. Ultimately, the self-regarding account of equity sheds light on the question of the relationship between equity and justice: from the distinct perspective of the judgment, sometimes equitable justice is better than legal justice and sometimes legal justice is better than equitable justice.


Author(s):  
Ariel R. Soto Caro

This chapter presents an empirical discussion about the relationship of agricultural industry and innovation in emerging economies. Then, a general revision of the innovation, agronomy and public policies associated will be reviewed. This chapter is immersed in the Chilean case. The author justifies that Chile can be a representative case because it is a country that wishes to become a world power in agro-food, but has very low investment in innovation. Besides, it has very low participation of agricultural innovative firms in the market. After the background is presented, innovation and development will be reviewed; subsequently, innovation in developing countries will be discussed, concluding with agro-innovation in Latin-American countries, especially in Chile.


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