The Concept of "The Popular" in the Social Sciences in Chile: From the Theory of Marginality to Popular Individualities (1950-2000)

Abstract

This article examines three conceptual scenes of “the popular” developed in social sciences in Chile: the theory of “urban marginality,” the “historical structural” approach, and the conceptual proposal of “popular individualities.” It explores the conceptions of the individual and society beneath each approach, as well as the sociopolitical concerns that motivate them. The overall analysis reveals that the meaning of “the popular” varies depending on the theoretical keys and the contextual concerns of each proposal, which highlights the need to recognize these differences in order to understand the specificity that each of the perspectives entails, and the challenges that they address.