Abstract

D'AMICO, María Victoria. The Definition of Inequality in the Recent Agendas of International Agencies for Latin America. Rev. colomb. soc. [online]. 2016, vol.39, n.1, pp.221-240. ISSN 0120-159X.  https://doi.org/10.15446/rcs.v39n1.56348.

The problem of inequality has been taking a central place in the political guidelines of the agendas of international agencies with respect to social policy in Latin America. The word inequality does not imply an identical definition or a common diagnosis, or a similar political justification regarding the need of its elimination, or at least of its reduction. For this reason, through the systematization of reports and documents published by the World Bank (WB), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the United Nations program for development (UNDP), as well as secondary sources, this article seeks to understand how the notion of inequality is understood by international organizations through the analysis of the inequality of what, of whom, and of what origins, as well as the identification of other interacting categories.

The text demonstrates, first, that inequality is reduced to a technical-adjustable variable in a complementary balance between equality, growth and poverty. Secondly, that inequality is inscribed in a political vision that loses sight that society operates as a classification system that defines the boundaries of social inclusion and exclusion.

The article reflects on the uses of the term when it is part of the hegemonic discourse of those institutions that concentrate power of classification and policy intervention in our region. The concern arises that inequality can become a euphemism and thus lose the potential that social sciences have historically attributed to it to question existing power relations. In response, the article proposes an epistemological approach and methodological criticism for the use of the term inequality that can be retaken when constructing our own research agendas.

Keywords : Latin America; social issue; inequality; social policy.

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