The market and the masses in Latin America
Subtitle: policy reform and consumption in liberalizing economies
By: Andy Baker.
Series: Cambridge studies in comparative politics
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2009
Place of publication: Cambridge [England]; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 331
ISBN-13: 9780521899680
Subjects: Globalization -- Latin America -- Public opinion; Neoliberalism -- Latin America -- Public opinion; Consumption (Economics) -- Latin America; Public opinion -- Latin America
Description: What do ordinary citizens in developing countries think about free markets? Conventional wisdom views globalization as an imposition on unwilling workers in developing nations, concluding that the recent rise of the Latin American left constitutes a popular backlash against the market. Baker marshals public opinion data from eighteen Latin American countries to show that most of the region's citizens are enthusiastic about globalization because it has lowered the prices of many consumer goods and services while improving their variety and quality. Among recent free-market reforms, only privatization has caused pervasive discontent because it has raised prices for services like electricity and telecommunications. Citizens' sharp awareness of these consumer consequences informs Baker's argument that a new political economy of consumption has replaced a previously dominant politics of labor and class in Latin America. --Publisher's description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction and theory; title: Consuming the Washington consensus; title: Theoretical framework: the top-down and bottom-up sources of public opinion; title: Mass beliefs about market policies in Latin America; title: The economic consequences and elite rhetoric of market reform in Latin America; title: Are Latin Americans neoliberals?; title: Are the poor neoliberals?; title: Mass support for reform in Brazil; title: The economic consequences and elite rhetoric of market reform in Brazil; title: How many Brazilians support market reforms?; title: Which Brazilians support market reforms?; title: Conclusion.