Revista Critica de Ciencias SociaisEurozineRevista Critica de Ciencias Sociais2012-09-20Abstracts Revista Critica 94 (2011)Carlos Lopes
Economic growth and inequality: The new post-Washington consensus
The debate on economic policy has developed significantly in the past decade. The so-called Washington Consensus, which dictated most of the solutions proposed by international financial organisations, began to be questioned when a large number of emerging economies reduced their reliance on multilateral debt. The crisis of 2008 and 2009 accelerated the process of reflection on the prescriptive nature of the policy proposals advocated by monetarists, with their insistence on a uniform view as if all situations were alike. This has been termed ideology, and the ideology associated with the Washington Consensus has failed even in its methodological principles, as clearly demonstrated by the internal debate within organisations such as the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank. This article reviews the various internal arguments of the international financial organisations within the debate and provides a critique of preconstructed models involving a return to Keynesian economics. It ends with an optimistic view of the broadening and democratisation of the debate on economic policies, termed the new features of the post-Washington Consensus.Viviane de Melo Resende
Initiative vs. charity: A critical discourse analysis of Cais magazine
As part of the results of an integrated project which aims to use discourse analysis to examine the practices involved in the production and distribution of five Portuguese language street press publications, this article uses critical discourse analysis to focus on the magazine Cais, published in Lisbon. Designed as a street publication, the magazine is sold in the streets by people who are homeless or at risk, who subsequently receive 70% of the proceeds of each copy. In addition to serving as a means of publicising and discussing social problems, it is believed that this type of press offers a different configuration of positions and relationships, therefore changing the experience of social exclusion. Using information taken from an interview with the magazine's editor, this article explores the extent to which homeless people are involved in the production of Cais magazine and in the way in which their situation is represented.Fernando Ampudia de Haro
Management, Development and Success: The Sociogenesis of self-help Literature in Portugal The aim of this article is to analyse the behavioural and emotional code emerging from self-help literature published in Portugal from the 1950s onwards, the time when this type of publication first began to acquire a presence and visibility. Initially this code seems far removed from the traditional precepts of the New State. However, an analysis of its social basis -- economic development, integrating the country into the international capitalist circuit, the company as a new focus for social integration, the presence of new technocratic mentalities and the search by the political authorities for a new type of legitimacy based on performance -- allows us to make a better assessment of this potential "distance", and to examine how the regime incorporated and assumed a new behavioural and emotional culture of self-help as a complex product of authority and liberty. Taking neo-Foucauldian theories of governmentality as its reference, it uses the example of self-help to analyse this combination of a liberal and authoritarian political rationale evident in the final twenty years of the New State. Pedro Quintela
Innovation and Experimentation in Cultural Mediation Strategies: The Case of the Casa da Música Education ServiceIn the last three decades the theme of cultural mediation has reacquired considerable relevance in political discourse and programmes that highlight the importance of developing educational programmes and attracting the public to the arts and culture. This understanding of mediation is associated with the enduring principle of "cultural democratisation" and also reflects the increasing concerns of cultural agents and institutions regarding sustainability, in a context in which public authorities are tending to withdraw funding. In line with these concerns, Portugal has also seen the development of "education services" and new cultural mediation strategies in many institutions and facilities. their relations with different publics and develop new ways of promoting their interest in creative practices in music. It also discusses the trend towards broader changes in cultural mediation strategies in arts organisations. Raquel Siqueira, Marcia Moraes and João Arriscado Nunes
Music Groups and Mental Health: Actors Working within the Scenario of Psychiatric Reform in Rio de Janeiro, BrazilThis article explores the creation of music groups among users of mental health services in the city of Rio de Janeiro. The research has been guided by certain questions, namely: a) the relationship between these music groups and other group treatment methods, such as music therapy; b) how the groups deal with the social inclusion of the users of these services; c) how the groups manage income from CDs and shows; d) the visibility of the groups on television, in the press and in other media and the effects of this visibility. The fieldwork was undertaken using actor-network theory as a reference point and was limited to two music groups: Sistema Nervoso Alterado and Harmonia Enlouquece. The conclusion suggests that the emergence of these music groups is linked to the scenario of psychiatric reform and that their practices may lead to problematizing and challenging the stigma of insanity.