Introduction: Latin America - A Challenge for Sociology

Abstract

Since the 1980s, Latin America has experienced unprecedented violence, which expresses itself in a major increase in homicide rates. After exploring different forms of violence and discussing the impoverishment which affects the region, the authors suggest that the spread of violence and crime is influenced by forces of global and local transformation which cause that violence to transcend national boundaries while reflecting the particular characteristics of each locality's culture and social organization. Through an analysis of five related processes: (1) changes in the drug economy; (2) proliferation of firearms; (3) similarity of cultural patterns of violence; (4) generalized fear among the population; and (5) citizen support for retaliation and extralegal violence (the latter in dangerous rapid expansion), the authors conclude by asserting that the appropriation of violence and its implacable logic of escalation can only lead to reciprocal annihilation. The strengthening of the state and the restoration of the rule of law comprise the necessary alternative for defending people's integrity and regaining freedom in the city.