Jocelyn Viterna
Biographic Data
| ID | 267729 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jocelyn Viterna |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jocelyn |
| FAMILY NAME | Viterna |
| SIGNATURE | VITERNA J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Harvard University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3038-2199 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 331 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 16 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1999 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Abortion Politics and Democratic Backsliding
Abortion is a polarizing political issue across the American continent, yet US-focused scholars seldom interrogate the consequences of abortion politics for democratic institutions. Latin America scholarship has done better. Moving beyond the typical academic focus of explaining abortion liberalization or abortion politicization, this regional scholarship investigates how conservative actors strategically isolate and amplify the antiabortion posi…
Transnational social protection
Social welfare has long been considered something which states provide to its citizens. Yet today 220 million people live in a country in which they do not hold citizenship. How are people on the move protected and provided for in the contemporary global context? Have institutional sources of social welfare begun to cross borders to meet the needs of individuals who live transnational lives? This introductory paper proposes a transnational social…
The Organizational Complexities of Transnational Humanitarian Aid
Reclaiming the “Third Sector” from “Civil Society”
Civil society is one of the most widely used—and widely maligned—concepts in development studies. In this paper, we argue that much confusion regarding civil society stems from the omnibus nature of its conceptualization. We consider civil society to be an omnibus concept because it has been imbued with several distinct meanings—a normative meaning (civil society as civilized), a functional meaning (civil society as democratizing), and a structur…
New Directions for the Sociology of Development
At the close of World War II, 'development' began to evolve along two paths. On the first path, scholars aimed to generate theoretical understandings of social change, especially at the national level (development studies). On the second path, policy makers in governments and other development-focused organizations initiated actions to promote positive social change, especially in poor or war-torn nations (development practice). In this article, …
Conceiving While Poor, Imprisoned For Murder
Though the Salvadoran total abortion ban has been a rallying cry for the global abortion rights movement, these 17 Salvadoran women appear to have not even purposefully ended a pregnancy, but rather to have suffered from a combination of obstetrical complications and poverty
Women in War
Over the past several decades, women have joined insurgent armies in significant and surprising numbers. Why do women become guerrilla insurgents? What experiences do they have in guerrilla armies? What are the long-term repercussions of this participation for the women themselves and the societies in which they live? Women in War answers these questions while providing a rare look at guerrilla life from the viewpoint of rank and-file participant…
The Left and “Life” in El Salvador
Throughout the past decade, governments across Latin America have experienced an unprecedented swing to the left. In this essay, I ask: Does the rise of the Left promote women's equality? Or in contrast, could women's continued subordination be an important factor promoting the rise of the Left? Using the case of El Salvador, I demonstrate how the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) deradicalized its public image—away from “guerrilla…
Resolving the Democracy Paradox
Increasing levels of democratic freedoms should, in theory, improve women's access to political positions. Yet studies demonstrate that democracy does little to improve women's legislative representation. To resolve this paradox, we investigate how variations in the democratization process-including pre-transition legacies, historical experiences with elections, the global context of transition, and post-transition democratic freedoms and quotas-…
How Development Matters
Most studies find that the substantial cross-national variation in women's legislative representation is not explained by cross-national differences in socioeconomic development. By contrast, this note demonstrates that economic development does matter. Rather than looking for across-the-board general effects, we follow Matland (1998), and analyze developed and developing nations separately. We find that accepted explanations fit rich nations bet…
Democratization, Women's Movements, and Gender-Equitable States
There is a rich collection of case studies examining the relationship between democratization, women's movements, and gendered state outcomes, but the variation across cases is still poorly understood. In response, this article develops a theoreticallygrounded comparative framework to evaluate and explain cross-national variations in the gendered outcomes of democratic transitions. The framework highlights four theoretical factors-the context of …
Pulled, Pushed, and Persuaded
Using a rare representative sample of grassroots activists and nonactivists, this study identifies three paths that consistently led Salvadoran women to involvement in the FMLM guerrilla army: politicized guerillas, reluctant guerillas, and recruited guerillas. These mobilization paths arose from the patterned intersections of individual‐level biographies, networks, and situational contexts. The implications of these findings extend beyond studie…
Gendering Class in Latin America
Female participation in the Latin American paid labor force is increasing dramatically. Building upon Portes and Hoffman's (2003) model, we use occupational data to measure gendered changes in Latin America's class structure over the last two decades of economic restructuring and adjustment and to investigate the causes and consequences of these regional patterns. Our results suggest two important conclusions. First, economic adjustment and restr…
Wiring the World
Forthcoming in Volumxge 40 Number 2
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. As you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button
Political Demands, Political Opportunities
Journal Article Political Demands, Political Opportunities: Explaining the Differential Success of Left-Libertarian Parties Get access Kent Redding, Kent Redding Indiana University Direct correspondence to Kent Redding, Department of Sociology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405; e-mail: [email protected]. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Jocelyn S. Viterna Jocelyn S. Viterna Indiana University Se…
Resolving the Democracy Paradox
Increasing levels of democratic freedoms should, in theory, improve women's access to political positions. Yet studies demonstrate that democracy does little to improve women's legislative representation. To resolve this paradox, we investigate how variations in the democratization process-including pre-transition legacies, historical experiences with elections, the global context of transition, and post-transition democratic freedoms and quotas-…
Pulled, Pushed, and Persuaded
Using a rare representative sample of grassroots activists and nonactivists, this study identifies three paths that consistently led Salvadoran women to involvement in the FMLM guerrilla army: politicized guerillas, reluctant guerillas, and recruited guerillas. These mobilization paths arose from the patterned intersections of individual‐level biographies, networks, and situational contexts. The implications of these findings extend beyond studie…
Democratization, Women's Movements, and Gender-Equitable States
There is a rich collection of case studies examining the relationship between democratization, women's movements, and gendered state outcomes, but the variation across cases is still poorly understood. In response, this article develops a theoreticallygrounded comparative framework to evaluate and explain cross-national variations in the gendered outcomes of democratic transitions. The framework highlights four theoretical factors-the context of …
How Development Matters
Most studies find that the substantial cross-national variation in women's legislative representation is not explained by cross-national differences in socioeconomic development. By contrast, this note demonstrates that economic development does matter. Rather than looking for across-the-board general effects, we follow Matland (1998), and analyze developed and developing nations separately. We find that accepted explanations fit rich nations bet…
New Directions for the Sociology of Development
At the close of World War II, 'development' began to evolve along two paths. On the first path, scholars aimed to generate theoretical understandings of social change, especially at the national level (development studies). On the second path, policy makers in governments and other development-focused organizations initiated actions to promote positive social change, especially in poor or war-torn nations (development practice). In this article, …
The Left and “Life” in El Salvador
Throughout the past decade, governments across Latin America have experienced an unprecedented swing to the left. In this essay, I ask: Does the rise of the Left promote women's equality? Or in contrast, could women's continued subordination be an important factor promoting the rise of the Left? Using the case of El Salvador, I demonstrate how the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) deradicalized its public image—away from “guerrilla…
Political Demands, Political Opportunities
Journal Article Political Demands, Political Opportunities: Explaining the Differential Success of Left-Libertarian Parties Get access Kent Redding, Kent Redding Indiana University Direct correspondence to Kent Redding, Department of Sociology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405; e-mail: [email protected]. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Jocelyn S. Viterna Jocelyn S. Viterna Indiana University Se…
Wiring the World
Political Demands, Political Opportunities
Journal Article Political Demands, Political Opportunities: Explaining the Differential Success of Left-Libertarian Parties Get access Kent Redding, Kent Redding Indiana University Direct correspondence to Kent Redding, Department of Sociology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405; e-mail: [email protected]. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Jocelyn S. Viterna Jocelyn S. Viterna Indiana University Se…
Gendering Class in Latin America
Female participation in the Latin American paid labor force is increasing dramatically. Building upon Portes and Hoffman's (2003) model, we use occupational data to measure gendered changes in Latin America's class structure over the last two decades of economic restructuring and adjustment and to investigate the causes and consequences of these regional patterns. Our results suggest two important conclusions. First, economic adjustment and restr…
Wiring the World
Forthcoming in Volumxge 40 Number 2
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. As you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button
Pulled, Pushed, and Persuaded
Using a rare representative sample of grassroots activists and nonactivists, this study identifies three paths that consistently led Salvadoran women to involvement in the FMLM guerrilla army: politicized guerillas, reluctant guerillas, and recruited guerillas. These mobilization paths arose from the patterned intersections of individual‐level biographies, networks, and situational contexts. The implications of these findings extend beyond studie…
How Development Matters
Most studies find that the substantial cross-national variation in women's legislative representation is not explained by cross-national differences in socioeconomic development. By contrast, this note demonstrates that economic development does matter. Rather than looking for across-the-board general effects, we follow Matland (1998), and analyze developed and developing nations separately. We find that accepted explanations fit rich nations bet…
Democratization, Women's Movements, and Gender-Equitable States
There is a rich collection of case studies examining the relationship between democratization, women's movements, and gendered state outcomes, but the variation across cases is still poorly understood. In response, this article develops a theoreticallygrounded comparative framework to evaluate and explain cross-national variations in the gendered outcomes of democratic transitions. The framework highlights four theoretical factors-the context of …
The Left and “Life” in El Salvador
Throughout the past decade, governments across Latin America have experienced an unprecedented swing to the left. In this essay, I ask: Does the rise of the Left promote women's equality? Or in contrast, could women's continued subordination be an important factor promoting the rise of the Left? Using the case of El Salvador, I demonstrate how the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) deradicalized its public image—away from “guerrilla…
Resolving the Democracy Paradox
Increasing levels of democratic freedoms should, in theory, improve women's access to political positions. Yet studies demonstrate that democracy does little to improve women's legislative representation. To resolve this paradox, we investigate how variations in the democratization process-including pre-transition legacies, historical experiences with elections, the global context of transition, and post-transition democratic freedoms and quotas-…
Women in War
Over the past several decades, women have joined insurgent armies in significant and surprising numbers. Why do women become guerrilla insurgents? What experiences do they have in guerrilla armies? What are the long-term repercussions of this participation for the women themselves and the societies in which they live? Women in War answers these questions while providing a rare look at guerrilla life from the viewpoint of rank and-file participant…
Conceiving While Poor, Imprisoned For Murder
Though the Salvadoran total abortion ban has been a rallying cry for the global abortion rights movement, these 17 Salvadoran women appear to have not even purposefully ended a pregnancy, but rather to have suffered from a combination of obstetrical complications and poverty
Reclaiming the “Third Sector” from “Civil Society”
Civil society is one of the most widely used—and widely maligned—concepts in development studies. In this paper, we argue that much confusion regarding civil society stems from the omnibus nature of its conceptualization. We consider civil society to be an omnibus concept because it has been imbued with several distinct meanings—a normative meaning (civil society as civilized), a functional meaning (civil society as democratizing), and a structur…
New Directions for the Sociology of Development
At the close of World War II, 'development' began to evolve along two paths. On the first path, scholars aimed to generate theoretical understandings of social change, especially at the national level (development studies). On the second path, policy makers in governments and other development-focused organizations initiated actions to promote positive social change, especially in poor or war-torn nations (development practice). In this article, …
The Organizational Complexities of Transnational Humanitarian Aid
Transnational social protection
Social welfare has long been considered something which states provide to its citizens. Yet today 220 million people live in a country in which they do not hold citizenship. How are people on the move protected and provided for in the contemporary global context? Have institutional sources of social welfare begun to cross borders to meet the needs of individuals who live transnational lives? This introductory paper proposes a transnational social…
Abortion Politics and Democratic Backsliding
Abortion is a polarizing political issue across the American continent, yet US-focused scholars seldom interrogate the consequences of abortion politics for democratic institutions. Latin America scholarship has done better. Moving beyond the typical academic focus of explaining abortion liberalization or abortion politicization, this regional scholarship investigates how conservative actors strategically isolate and amplify the antiabortion posi…
Political science (15 works) · Politics (11 works) · Law (10 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Economics (7 works) · Political economy (6 works) · Social Policy and Reform Studies (6 works) · Gender Politics and Representation (5 works) · Law (5 works) · Computer Science (4 works)