Essai

Gender, social capital and political participation in the barrio

Emmanuelle Le Texier

American barrios and ghettos have been overlooked because of their low capacity for mobilization. In particular, barrio residents have been considered to be either culturally or structurally unable to participate. The use of such concepts as the culture of poverty, the underclass or the internal colony has maintained a vision of these segregated spaces as non-political. Indeed, low voter registration and turnout, the lack of party campaigning, and a large proportion of disenfranchised Latino origin individuals may characterize the barrio...