Quand les exclus font de la politique

In this book, the author questions the notion of political apathy applied to excluded people, in particular to Mexican-origin barrio residents in America. Starting with an interrogation about what is political and with a revision of classical political participation models and concepts that served to define non-participation in the Latino barrios, she shows that these approaches build an implicit link between social disorganization and political apathy. She deconstructs this link with a theoretical reflection on the concept of “pre-politics”, arguing that classical concepts such as “underclass” and “culture of poverty” are of limited interest, that socioeconomic factors are determinant in explaining apathy in these areas, but that institutional factors are even more influent to determine exclusion from the political sphere.

Last, she points out the existence of “daily political practices”, based on gender and identity dynamics which define a specific social organization and collective identity.