This study analyzes the status of women and men in eight South American societies, as reported in ethnographies. It uses a multidimensional model of status, examined in two aspects (distribution of economic goods and child care), and compares women's and men's resulting status configurations within societies and among them. Overall, women's statuses are highest in the domestic domain and lowest in the political public area for both variables. Men have high statuses in all areas of distribution, especially the public. Women generally have less choice than men do in their participation in both variables. An important outcome of this study is a method for analyzing qualitative information in context, allowing the researcher to present analysis in as much context as is appropriate, then display the results in a comparable form. This thesis also includes status flexibility, an innovation which allows presentation of the range of statuses for women and men. / Department of Anthropology

This dissertation compares the effects of progressive social reform on income inequality in the Southern Cone of South America, Scandinavia, and Australasia. These regions faced comparable economic challenges at the start of the 20th century, but experienced different trends of income inequality after they introduced progressive policies in this period. Australasia and Scandinavia converged on a downward trend while the Southern Cone remained comparatively more unequal. The dissertation concentrates on three areas that significantly predict inequality in contemporary research: labour markets, education, and taxation and spending policies. Existing explanations usually focus on supply-side aspects of policy reform: wage regulation, and increased taxation and spending on education and social insurance, are thought to bring inequality down in the long-run. These reforms are seen as the outcome of the relative power of working class groups over elites. Despite institutional variation, the three regions enacted progressive policies to address distributional conflict and protect their economies from global risks. I study the demand-side of policy reform; policies faced considerable collective action problems to promote compliance and cooperation in order to work in the long-time and include populations at large. The fact that most people were motivated to comply meant that labour markets generated formality and standard wages, education increased human capital, and spending became stable as the tax base increased in Scandinavia and the Antipodes. The opposite happened in the Southern Cone as social actors tried to link selectively with the state while state officials neglected the material constraints that limited access to welfare and education. Each chapter spells out the conditions through which policy addressed collective action problems to motivate cooperation with wage agreements, sending children to school, and compliance with taxation and spending policies. Behind comparable aggregate numbers in these areas, the underlying social processes differed as Australasians and Scandinavians fostered cooperation between state and social actors, while the Southern Cone did not.

La présente thèse a pour objet l’étude du régionalisme. Ce dernier se réfère ici à des régions mondiales constituant une dimension médiane entre le niveau étatique et le système mondial. Notre analyse porte donc sur les nouvelles expériences régionales qui ont émergé dans le contexte de la globalisation néolibérale et de la post-guerre froide. Le régionalisme est analysé en tant qu’objet des relations internationales et l’étude de cas choisi est celui du régionalisme latino-américain, et plus précisément le Marché commun du Sud (MERCOSUR). Une importante partie des travaux consacrés à l'explication du régionalisme partent d'une approche essentiellement endogène accordant une attention distraite aux déterminants exogènes. Pour comprendre la nature du nouveau régionalisme, il faut le situer dans une perspective globale qui tient compte de l’interrelation entre les niveaux national, régional et global. Bien que le régionalisme renvoie à des logiques internes propres, le phénomène est fortement conditionné et façonné par l’extérieur du fait qu’il évolue en interaction directe et constante avec le monde économique et politique international, et qu’il fait l’objet de politiques menées par des acteurs dominants de l’arène mondiale. Les déterminants extérieurs sont donc essentiels pour comprendre l’évolution du régionalisme. Dès lors, la thèse se propose de répondre à la question suivante :comment et en quoi la nature et l’évolution du régionalisme se trouve façonnée par le cadre exogène et comment ce dernier interagit avec les facteurs d’ordre interne ?Pour répondre à cette question il convient de resituer le MERCOSUR dans le cadre du triangle atlantique (Amérique du Sud/Union européenne/Etats-Unis) qui lui-même doit être placé dans le contexte plus large de la globalisation néolibérale. / Doctorat en sciences politiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished