NEW SOCIAL-MOVEMENTS IN LATIN-AMERICA - THE DYNAMICS OF CLASS AND IDENTITY

This essay provides a counterpoint to the postmodern interpretations o f social movements in Latin America. Its purpose is to argue for the n ecessity of a class analysis of these movements. The main focus of thi s argument is on the emergence of what has been labelled 'new peasant movements', which, it is argued constitute the most dynamic forces of resistance to neoliberal capitalism in Latin America. Postmodernism in this context is viewed as a deficient intellectual approach, premised as it is on an idealist conception of reality.