Ricardo Lagos and Chile's Democratic Transition
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VOLUME 35 FEBRUARY 2007 NUMBER 2 Looking forward to the 2007 ASA Annual Meeting in New York . hour by a belief that another world was possible. “Without Yesterday There Is No Tomorrow”: In the Beginning Ricardo Lagos Escobar was born in Ricardo Lagos and Chile’s Democratic Transition 1938, the same year as the Center-Left Former Chilean President will be one of several notable plenary speakers at ASA’s upcoming 102nd Annual Meeting Popular Front won the national elec- tions. The dominant party in the Chilean Popular Front was the centrist Radical by Peter Winn, Tufts University such ambition for power as to try to be to democracy and in the 1988 plebiscite Party, secular reformers with a middle in power for 25 years!” When his pan- ending Pinochet’s authoritarian rule. class base. His uncle was a Radical In April 1988, as Chile emerged from 15 icked interviewers tried to interrupt, he He also founded and led the Party for Deputy and it was as a Radical student years of total censorship under its most insisted, “I speak for 15 years of silence.” Democracy, which became one of Chile’s leader that Lagos would first enter poli- brutal dictatorship into its first electoral With that courageous act—and those main political parties. As minister of tics. He studied law at the University of campaign since the 1973 military coup, a defiant words—Lagos assured his place education and minister of public works, Chile, but became increasingly interested plebiscite was held on whether General in history and gave Chileans the courage Lagos demonstrated skill as an adminis- in economics. His thesis on the concen- Augusto Pinochet should rule the to defeat the dictator “with just a pencil,” trator and ability to innovate within the tration of economic power in Chile, a country for another decade. In a nation as Chilean sociologist Teresa Valdes later constraints of an authoritarian constitu- pioneering study, concluded that the accustomed to controlled media, Socialist marveled. tion and a neoliberal economy. top 4.2% of corporations in Chile con- leader Ricardo Lagos was allowed a Lagos has numerous claims to a In 2000, Lagos was elected Chile’s trolled 59.2% of the capital invested in rare national TV appearance. Pointing prominent place in Chile’s history. As first Socialist president since Salvador joint stock companies and laid bare the straight at the camera, Lagos defied the a social scientist, he published the first Allende. Despite a narrow electoral interlocking directorships through which dictator: “You promise the country eight major study of Chile’s concentration mandate and an inherited economic Chile’s elite controlled the economy. more years of tortures, assassinations, of economic power. As a leader of a recession, Lagos was one of the most By the time his thesis was published, violations of human rights,” he said. “It clandestine Socialist party, he played successful presidents in Chilean his- Lagos was doing graduate work at Duke is unacceptable for a Chilean to have an important role in Chile’s transition tory. Moreover, he nurtured the politi- University (1960–62) where he earned a cal career of Michelle Bachelet and was PhD in economics. Returning to Chile, instrumental in her succeeding him Lagos became an economics professor at as the first woman president of Chile. the University of Chile and later direc- Looking forward to the 2007 ASA Annual Meeting in New York . At the opening plenary session of the tor of its School of Political Science. In Annual Meeting, Lagos will be honored 1969, he was elected Secretary-General of for his courageous and path-break- the University of Chile as the candidate Four Trends Shaping the Big Apple ing career as a social scientist in poli- of the leftist Popular Unity Alliance of tics—sustained even in Chile’s darkest by Andrew A. Beveridge, Queens College and the Graduate Center of CUNY See Lagos, page 8 When the demonstrations for immigrant rights flared up around the country last year some members of New York City’s various immigrant Remembering a Giant of Sociology groups participated, but the demonstrations here were a faint echo of those in other cities. The simple reason: New York draws substantial numbers of Seymour Martin Lipset (1922–2006) its immigrants from many different countries, continents, languages, and by Claude S. Fischer and Ann Swidler, other roles—hardly describe how con- origins, while the majority of immigrants and the vast majority of undocu- sequential he was. By one study, Lipset mented immigrants nationwide originate University of California-Berkeley was the most cited social scientist in the in Mexico. This diverse immigrant popu- eymour Martin Lipset, one of the world. lation is one of four demographic trends S giants of sociology in the 20th century, Lipset established many of the theo- that define New York City’s unique social died on December 31, 2006, in Arlington, ries and research agendas in political landscape permeating every facet of life VA. sociology, stratification, modernization, from politics and business to culture and Marty Lipset shaped modern sociol- and other fields. Much of his work arose family life. ogy by writing a string of classic works, from questions about the social bases of Immigrant Waves nurturing a legion of eminent democracy and the absence of students, and radiating a kind- socialism in America. They led New York City’s recent population ness that warmed all those him to study Canada, compara- growth was fueled by immigration. around him. tive development, American Without it, the city’s population would Lipset, the son of Russian- history, the nature of demo- not be near eight million. “Without the Jewish immigrants, grew cratic and anti-democratic immigrants,” Mitchell Moss, professor of up immersed in the intense, politics, the labor movement, urban planning and policy at New York University, has said, “New York City Marxist debates of his Bronx social class, and much more. would be Detroit,” a city whose population is lower now than it was in 1930. neighborhood, an atmosphere During the 1990s, New York continued to draw large numbers of immi- Socialism and Democracy which he later credited with grants with a variety of backgrounds, origins, and economic status. Unlike sparking his intellectual His dissertation book, virtually every other immigrant area in the United States, immigrants to New concerns and political commit- Agrarian Socialism (1950), was York City come from many different places: ments. Lipset, along with other Seymour Martin the first in a series that used the • Older European countries such as Russia, Italy, and Poland; memorable student activists Lipset American-Canadian compari- • The Caribbean, including the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Haiti; at the City College of New son to address systematically • Asia, including China, Korea, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India; York in the 1930s, such as Daniel Bell, the “why no socialism?” question. Union • Central and South America, including Mexico, Ecuador, and Colombia. Nathan Glazer, Irving Howe, and Philip Democracy (1956), with Martin Trow Some of these groups are better educated than others; some gravitate to Selznick, remade American social science and James Coleman, examined why certain professions; some are self-employed. The economic status, family and intellectual life in the middle of the the democratically run printers’ union status, and ratio of male to female vary widely from group to group. The century. managed to escape Michels’ “iron law of immigrants today are increasingly segregated from the rest of the population Lipset’s formal positions—pro- oligarchy.” Through intensive, multi- and from other immigrant groups than were immigrants at the turn of the fessorships at Toronto, Columbia, method, team research, the authors 20th century, and even groups from the same nation often gravitate to differ- Berkeley, Harvard, Stanford, and George discovered the importance of small, ent locations. Mason; presidencies of the American mediating groups—what would later be Mayor Giuliani once remarked that he loved all immigrants, legal or Sociological Association, the American labeled “civil society”—for democracy. illegal, but in recent years New York City, along with the rest of the country, Political Science Association, the United Union Democracy alone would be the See New York, page 8 States Institute of Peace; membership in crowning achievement of most academic the National Academy of Sciences; and See Lipset, page 6 PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION FEBRUARY 2007 FOOTNOTES The Executive Officer’s Column In This Issue . Enhancing the ASA Public Information Program A year ago, the ASA Council expressed strong interest in having the ASA Executive Office expand our program of ASA Opportunity outreach to the mass media. Council believed additional resources invested in this activity would significantly lever- for Undergraduates age our existing efforts and permit new approaches to bring sociology and sociological research to the general public and The Honors Program is a policymakers through the media. While ASA’s current out- 3 reach efforts have had notable successes, and we have a strong valuable resource and experience for undergraduate students. track record with a sizable set of journalists, more is better. Sally T. Hillsman After an organization-wide communications audit by a firm with expertise in social science communication, we have begun working on key recommendations Council found compelling. Generally, the Sociologist Bloggers goal of our Public Information Program (PIP) is to scale up dissemination of research Speak Out findings to broader public audiences—through both national and local media—by working daily to connect the media with sociologists who have expertise in topics of Four sociologists comment on interest to producers and journalists. The addition to the Executive Office staff of an 4 experienced professional Media Relations Officer (MRO) with a background in soci- their experiences and encourage ology and in award-winning broadcast news production will help ASA capitalize on more sociologists to read, new and existing opportunities.