I K S T T T U T O T Q R C U A T O 331 T E L L A

CEhSmCI DE SOCJ[OLW;TLA COMPAMDA

NOTE8 ON TRE TERMlNOLIOGY IN STTff)lEG OF WCML PARTICIPATION

Alesamdm Pizzernn. Director, Ricemhe SPsiaIf, htituto Lomba~do per gli Studi Economfcf e mcialf, M i l h . Profe~ssr a£ Sociology, Unfve~sitU d l h c o n ~ , Italy.

Trabajo prcscntndo R la C d e v e n e i ~ JntcmncjnnnL sohre Ftlntl.estigaci6a. ,%cia1 CarnparstiW m 10s Parses en 13rs~1rrolla: Deanirp~lea Interms en 01 ProceBo da Desarmlb Eormbrnioo y Social en Amdrjna b t i n a . (Burno8 A lw~. rE! a1 15 de aeptiembre

de LBR4),

The ulrjacl or Ihe t.ullwwhg notea i e to dIsculsa briefly the use 01 n concept frequently found i n the interpretation of development yraceasas; t h e concept of ~ac ia l particwation. Tci do so. 11 iis fimt of all necesaasy tn m i a t nut two pmhlam~ that rnotivata t h ~ use of t h i s concept; we may then dlstinwish two d i f f e ~ n t kinds of' y h e n ~ m s n a to which t h i s concept i s relevant.

1 - The f i s g t prohlom comes up by observing the h a k of psrtia$stioa in ihoae Fmupe where psrkicipalion ie ~xpwtrd and eva1u;rted as posLtive, Thie ia a

pbenbrn~hen tha t ha cally stabilized societies wlth demo- cratic Lrsdilfon. In ~mption and grercquisltes for the f u c t i o ~ ing af the political Be should participatn En tho pollticwl process, not only in ~ ~ o s c orpnizalans lnal arc Lhe haai,s of majority and power hut also in those sf opposition,

Panicipdirrrn i n groups of the opposition has consequences for society at Ixme In h r d rvaya: opposition, groups arc pa14 of an intcgmtion process. Yaturally, illin ia true lu i l l lI~ranL axlenls: thc InWgmtIan function is mmmum In lhe case of conutStut10nnl opposition {i. r. H i s MT testvls apposition) minimum o r nonexistent in "21 ikm:rllc or r ~ ~ o l u t l o n a r y inn [$-P- merrjll orwl: in any P ~ R P

Pa an in ~ r o u p a , even in tho! i t ~ m n t i ~ oppo~iti~ its effects on the 801 $ration of ihdirrirlunls . In ~ a c r , 11 make$ them share socmr value# which led to proposals tor new kinds of aodial systems.

aal- Sne on, has

. .

This caac is Illuatralcd by 311 thrss~ ideologies that could ho called ideolqg of a eoclety ''in nucc", Lh:~i is to say those irlmlogls w h o e aim is to propose a newr type of 8oclely within Lhe xis sting n w .

b i c a l exnrnpha af t h i s ph@nornenon a re reprcsenlpd by the Christian group8 d u r i ~ g t h e Ilmt C C P ~ C I P ~ C S 01 t he Roman Ernpim; hy socZaliat rind marchic groups oP Ihc last century o r by Ihr Hcbrcv; community oE " Y i s h v " in the DrItlsh m a n d n t af Palestine. Even the rise of hnargenis ~ o c l r t y in the Middle A ~ e s CE~R be interpreted app~oximntively in the way Pirennr clhd as the cmeEence of a new society from s soelefy ''in nucciq within the f w d ~ 1 system.

Problems arise %%en there is lack of pasticipaticln and thaw i~ apathy nF indifferenre either in those groups where social power is formed or in group8 of syslamanic ar constitu tianal oppofiltlon.

The question ,nwaested by this problem are: why parti~iption f~ l ack iq where i t is axwcted? Tt hat are the factors that promote participation and what are those t ha t m:iy hinder. 01- Enusr it tn decline or djlszrppear?

In order Lo study cn-rpirically In a given socferty the degmes, pmerna and iypes of par~icipaticrn, St is limt of a11 necessary to dintingutah which am thse Frvnaps whose values favour partlc.ip%tian; scc~rmdly, wcr musf idemtsy t h a e he- h ~ ~ - i o t ~ r s which indicatr: more o r leas intensity o r even different aays of partb- ipsting m thcse gmups. Data on voluntnrv ssswciati~n, membar~hip, r tc , srs the mosh typical indicators althpugb they a m noi the only ones.

2. Whereas the first problem (apathy versus garticfpation) can be found h SOCietieb wlkh d~mm~=nti.r trarT$ticm, t h ~ a ~ m n F I me a r i w a mther in a

previous stage O F thost d~mocrac i ea o r fn todayTs mdedeVeEaped smielies, The problem is that a m masues appear on the scene of urban .nd nztbnal 1Lfc. What does ibis mean?

Implicitly or expllcitIy it iis concerned with twa series of faeta;

a) Groupa with univeraa1istir: vnluca am p d on trhl w k n external groups requtleat thal. they pariirlpate. Thls ia true in tha UlhsraI democrircics whcro "elite" ideologfea arise aa a reaction walmt the external request. It is aha true In traditional sociahist and svndicalist :risi~ by tha aocelse itp ~f having b represent mas Lrnml~rants, aa in Amentirra o r Brazil. [For t 1 see the worlca al Germmi, Touraine, cardoso, Di Te!ka ant1 others j,

u p s forc sus of 12 his inter

13) Tbuse who speak of " p a r t i c i p n t i ' with mmrd to such a pmbbm, means 'Participation t o the n~htioml eg.sternpf.

"FI.%t is, scicfcty at h q e ia seen a8 a "national 8ocietyt'. f iL i a seen sm Lhe only system which IR the source of benefft~ ~ n d duties.

In contrast to a previoue s t q e ul derrel~prnemt no imparkant movements or g m p a pmlmse altemaiire sacidlies or corres;wndin$ alternative values. The

cadllct la seen as bctwmn someone who m-ante to get in nnd o t h c r ~ that #don't want to kt hfrn in.

IT fn some degree an a l t emt ive arises, it is gen~mlly of limited cope, and without any real autonomy, p r o p a h a just Hame minor ecrhmge in the niltianal system of values.

It is useful f ~ r this puqmse to keep in mind the dlstinctlon between "t'lon aP systemti and "economic ayatemrr. This distinction i~ c l o ~ e to the clistinctlon, already traditional in political science: ''political society'' vcrsua "t?irpil so@bty t l . Bath ~ p s f e m are sourcee of dffferent kind@ of benefits and right8 aa ~b~elk as duliee,

1fP shall. see tha t diiffercnt soirlat grou13g can n4m to intagmic themselves in, or oppar thv national Byatern, hut nnE thc vcanomic system [and \rice arer~a). Thfs mxifiicnl distinction allows better rcprcecntalion of the pmgcssive coin- ~identle nf the two as i t takrs p1:icr in ezrn-iemporary soaktiea in ~enernl, mrl men rnrlrr: t l u ~ a l ~ l y iu uode~.clevcloped sncic i i ts .

Thia second enscmFr1.e of prublemu and its conccpLualizaEiw "massti, ''maas parkicipalion h the svstrmtt, flcanflictu~I participation" arises %%err certain c m - ditbna appemr:

a) rn gn i r n t ~ m ~ i i n n ~ l ~ y s t ~ r n W~,CP.P ~ncf t l i e s o m ~ e t h a m n l ~ e s as developed and ~ l n d e r d e z ~ e l o ~ d 4tb.t is an ~ ~ I ~ € ? T I I R ~ ~ T I R ~ gtr;lfified system, or, if you W ~ L , In an imperialistic Bystam) 4 where the unities which constitute the hicmrchv, are national rntltics ,

bj In societies tvhese there fa nn intcmal sfmlificalicrn within the working claws, BO thnt higher and 101vi:r strata are not only diiiar- ent in t r r m s uf pmfessional cpaliflcaiiou bul mostly in t e r m s of su mcssive wave& af u r k n immigrmta i rnpdect 1)- assimilated, and surnctimes even c-lnlcallv diH~reat .

]In this csae it can kc said that the h i ~ h e r stratrr of the ~vorlcing &lass de- Iines itself in tcrrns nf tho cconomie s y s t e m {either to get intc~rated PA Es the case of social-drma.tsraey: or t o oppose it, i a the case of lhe anarchic-a;cndi~al- iam).

(or f lerr~r) strata 01 work in^: class, d r f ine therneekea mar0 in nnE system and its k n e f i t s arzch aa social scrurily, mass poBIL-

c ) ~ a o c l e t l e s ~ v h e ~ e t h e e o c i a ~ b e n e f h ~ o f d e m o c r r r c y o u t d i s h c e t h e development s f the elconomlc system. Thla meme t h ~ t s o c i ~ l kne- fi t&, aucb a* social Insu~encc, family benefits, etc., are grmntmd i~ a astnge o f drvctlepment previous to that in which thry wero granted in first indastrllizd b061Eties. These h e f i t s have a national origin and twd to procedp brncfitn purely derived from the ~ c m - omic spstorn, Ilk@ for Lnetnnce, masa comurnptbn.

A s a complr-mcnt to the use of the concept "participationtt we meet the cancep he one hnncl nre have r'partfcfp~tionn .in a, sy~tem (In its in31 ) aiming for lhe knefiflta that can be derived from it; wm tlte " nigr~iri~s trul v~r ly sl~arirlg l ~ r o a l i k i , 11ul alao duties, in the pasticalas nalional spetrrn, Ik-ulsch, who swms to have heea t h e first to ~roaosc thla ~corcl. uses I t fn n wider sense; and It le; h u n d to hls concept of ' '~acial communication1'. Nevertheless i t would be useful within thig wide coeeption t o distinguish two kfncis of phenomena: tho first in connection with relatiom turned tammh der~elopm.ent and enhancernenk of a system [the emnornic or the natlonw1 system) and the BPCCNI~ in connection with the gratitfc~ticns offered hy a system, and consequently to the ~elatioris of participation p s s i b l e witbin it.

'Phia dlatinctfan allows rra, when the caae arises, to ob:lb~orvo and even h interpret diffclrent vnr iations in 630th series of phenomena; participafion and mobli- ~ z a t i m . You can have a mpul;rtion svbich is mobilized En Lhc sense of sharing (by compulsion or irccly) dulica in the mtionnl or oconomic ayotrm; without at the

aamc Lime hay.ving the opportt~nitp to share concomitantly i n the hemefits of the na- tional o r r c o n ~ m i c system. In Germnni" spinion thc cotrc~pt of rnabilizatjan refer^ ta rhc pweasqe;e f rom ascribed to :,achieved roles. We hnve here the idea that he mehilized person c2entrem srr area whem incentives bur development operates, The relation l~c iwrrr~ 11101~ili~at iun bml ~ 1 . t ic jpaliun aeetrls then tu he like n r M o r c l '

and "d t e r f r : first mobilization, then participatbn. T h f ~ q r ~ c s effectively wi th .he great part of %rcll ho'~.w historical sltuattfons. Xcvertholess, it seema userul to l~eep the difkrence marc at an analjdlcal level rather than at a temporal erne, Tire ~ h m l l d cons~de r also that the idea rnubil~zatjotl implies the presence of an external force, a centre of economic and political power, that for some reason may cause or cncourqe moblllzation, zrd 1s htelpested In ite accomplishment.

Prom what hm h ~ n m i d , we can codcbde that the concept a€ psrrticfpatisn is to be appli& to t w o different sa r i c s of phenomena generally I~iolufld in different historicnl circizmstanccs. In thc onr msaning this ~onccpr is useful for the theory of the social basis democracy: in the other mcmlng this conccpl, togcthcr with

it cumplemt.ut "mubillizaf,~an'\ 11s uasful la the Ikmry af da,elupmenl.

Ywerthele~s it is evident that vary probably there i.9 an overlap between the two series aS phenomena in sll pmctlcal situatfom, That is, the indlcatom of variables defining one series of phenomena a r e regv often the samme as those needed to define variables in the other ~er ias of phenomena. But thero 18 another Impadant aspect poimi out: in bn hga of tt tpariicip [ffera f rom "halon~ing"; that is, it implie n h r y cbc ~ng altnr E P ~

down histolrically only aftor hrcaklng rne mads of tranlr~oreal '%elong~ng.~. u n the other hand fb~lcrngirg - partlcipati~n'~ does not correspond to the one bet we^ achievement. In fact, it i s poaaibie b find situations of "parlicli rqur r r l lp of voluntary ~ h o i c e ) to '+artcriptdrt values and rvka: r~a l iur~ ,k l i t i rn j ~ . iA Lylicial uxz~rny lt8 ul I h i ~ i . ia t t t? .

the d isf ?n asc~+Er pxlionF1 4

tc word >ice smc .- .,11, _ - -

In order to clsrjfy the discufisi;on. w e sh lJ make a brief referewe to two historical cams hnlh relair~d in Lho f1 WL and t h e second oh the problems nre have dealt ~ l b w t .

The first caae deals with f h ~ b~iIu;~tion uf the uro~king: chse in lorrg indu~trist bed countries, zvhcm, by ddinUign, m~hjl i~Ett i~rI f o r the sake of dweloprnent Look place lorig ago.

rr7 nation uf the s~ 1 1 --J Ilr

rndz to I E docs nl he a a m r

I date ag at the mr iY WR1;lYR .. .

w e on cr 3 rne11t 'IVI

o f thc sv

x t a i n pc 2 are m i orlrlng o

cm: thcr Nwertl

m v - - - - - .

In. general, all the theories ~ e s up ki links doscrLbbg how the siludion has BH~ :armed ! in- taroetnd in the C:UIRCE): t h c r ~ i ~ , int in mmnn la= a, or a good pwrt of it, to She national smietv { M a r ~ h a l l ) : there i e acceptance h?- the: worl.lririg c l 7 by t h ~ w r k - jng class i izdies (mostly h Eylm~l : n I I ~ I ~ I ~ J P L nuu I U U I I K ~ Z Y ~ J ~ J ~ I ~ ~ S ) I Y L U ~ Y ~ ; anal a~1111c II I ruli U.S.: Gang, D. M i l l t - 1 , urv .t dlTfrr~-~~L ~ ~ h l r ~ r u m u ~ ~ u r ~ cuexiti~lllfi; thal Is, yurslul-

b h ~ r or ne arking class sub-cufturca, that participate in the ruklure 01 me sociezy sr I:rt-gr nnlg thsmugh institutional ch:nnncI~ or masR corn- rnunicallf~n, but do nut achieve m y nther voluntarv relatinn out of their own r n d i u m . b r k w c w ! am tl Cold1 hurpe distinguish lhree aspects: econrsrnic, normative and srlniinn,al. 'Prc:. nntv that w far ~s 8tandnrsl of l i v i n ~ I s concerned, the work- &; :Iin~inatc d f f f ~ r ~ n c r ~ other fhnn thocse af degrw with th r rnlddlc CL o l happrn ai a n o r n a t i v ~ ~ C V P ~ and espciallv not at relational Pe time Iebdcnrri~r; towards rcologicsl s%rcgatbn cntlflirm these

h one d our reeenrchea in wor3rin~ daua , middle chss, and mixed acaatinna of 3f.qjl:~n (ctill not puhliahcd) w~ hnvc found rs etrong ncgntivc oorrclation among ' 'wological condition^'' indexes md sEslatls h8eap.s. Dy ecologicd con- d jlinning l a v r r nmn thv grn~raphir arcs where i n d i ~ ~ i d o ~ E voluntary ehoicos (of

pa-rfici&%tfon) nre m d c . Thic conditioning doeanlt seem to he cauasd by pllyatual ubstncles: in fact, rrrfth equal admittance tc~ mema of tsansprtation [people living In the same quarter and ownjng t he Bame kind of means d trampartation) indivld- uak beinwing to the working class B C E ~ tD make their choice In a smaller torr i - tory Lhan the middle class does, Theaese data, in agwnrnent with those dctrcted In the U, S. and in England, seem to confirm lhc tendency to the devclcsprncnt of W U T ~

ing class sub-crultrarefl close w d segregated, that is, with m area of participation differing from that sf the middle clms ~lPlCl mi osre+lappb~ it,

At the s a m e time, p~rtictpation becomes more intense Brr! ita primary forms, tha t it$ wlth members 01 the! extendrd family, with certain type6 of friends, etc. Such phenomena could be Interpreted as pnrticipatian to group8 of helongi~neas , in the mpaning hefore cxrplaiaed.

I'hc second case, exempljifyfng the second Qpe of pmhlems is the zeitmttioI3 al the workirmpl class in paptially dovelopod socktlea like Brazil and Argcntim, R e s c a r c h c r s agrw sebstantiallv in clescrlb iw lees in recent e t q e s of those oountrica' dcvckoprnont. Pisat of all, ~ e : exiatcace ui waves 01 immigrants from ininside of the country of ~ U L J J pLvl.rUL LLVU hat the pre-existing working c laaa , with its UUTI assoclaLbnn1 and org%nizationaL net i s not I of shsorbiq it. They abo wlnt out the different cu l tu ra l tradition of thest -st&: the first with socialiul and Ilbertarian Eumpnan tradition, the $~c-r>nd wnn corn- munibby and particudarisLic twdirion. Different Intcrpretati~ns aria@ when we try to interpret the new ideological mnwrnents (pemnlsrn, oarguiarn), Rims= can be but either on the emetare sf attitudrrs and rtlllrllral tradition (as the rnqd~k of work InE class i i~thosltarism) or on the rebtianal system of participation given to the wlir wra\rea nf irnrnjgmats. It 1s. possible 8 a t new immigrantsr isolation {ram soclill participation with rnambem of the pre-existing vorkfng cbss, aE the same time that c3amel~ oB nallonnl pnrtiripatinn are opened to them (for example, social b ~ n e f i t s , v t ~ l iag, r tc . ) hiwe given riee to thc natisml, ~ p u l n r iderslq~ies.

But morr impafi~nt ia keep in mind that sections of the rullng c b s ~ in such c~undrlcs hare ~ ~ a ~ c ~ d and appealed to t h e m ncv, w-orking clam s t r d a , ufler- irg them, for their oam ends, a snsl or naiirs~t,zl tdenltificxiinn. ThLs happened in c n n t m t to the cl=sjcnl E U ~ D P I ? ~ sflitoatinn* becauee of the new type nf internation al sgratcm w i t h i ivhieh thcsc ruling groups had to sct.