The social explosion or also called uprising/rebellion initiated on October 18, 2019 in Chile, constitutes a historical process, marked by the most massive, sustained and intense social mobilizations of the post-dictatorship period, expressing a deep social malaise in the face of social inequality, the abuses of the political and economic elites, and the precariousness of life in a context of extreme commodification and social unprotection. Dignified pensions, health and education as a social right, as well as a constitutional process to replace the political constitution inherited from the Pinochet dictatorship and the resignation of President Piñera, have been the main demands. The seminar will reflect on some keys of analysis to understand the origins of the outbreak, the deployment of mobilisations, the political-institutional responses and the implications to date of a process that has revealed the deep crisis of the combination of neoliberalism and democracy.
Héctor Cavieres Higuera holds a PhD and a BA in Psychology from the University of Chile. He is the Dean/Director of the Research and Postgraduate School and also a researcher at the School of Social Sciences of the Universidad Católica Silva Henríquez.
Juan Fernández Labbé holds a PhD in Sociology and a Master’s Degree in Social Science Research Methodology from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid; and a BA in Sociology from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. He is the Director of the Master’s Degree in Social Intervention, and also a researcher at the School of Research and Postgraduate Studies of the Universidad Católica Silva Henríquez.