Maria J Azocar | College of the Sequoias (original) (raw)

Papers by Maria J Azocar

Routledge eBooks, Jul 11, 2023

Oxford University Press eBooks, Apr 20, 2023

Latin American Research Review, 2018

Oñati Socio-Legal Series, 2022

El objetivo de este número especial es mostrar el trabajo que está realizando una nueva generació... more El objetivo de este número especial es mostrar el trabajo que está realizando una nueva generación de personas dedicadas a los estudios de Derecho y Sociedad en Chile. Este grupo interdisciplinario se ha venido congregando desde mediados de la década del 2010s, tomando realidad formal el año 2018 con la formación del Grupo de Derecho y Sociedad de Chile. Considerando la historia de los estudios socio-legales en Chile, se muestran las continuidades y rupturas que ha experimentado este campo de investigación desde los inicios del siglo XX hasta el presente. En este número especial se presentan las innovadoras perspectivas metodológicas y teóricas desarrolladas en la última década, las que invitan a repensar al derecho en su constitutiva paradoja: como reproductor de la desigualdad estructural y como herramienta de transformación social.

The macro-level of society consists of the relationships among its institutional structures and h... more The macro-level of society consists of the relationships among its institutional structures and how such patterned relations change in systematic ways over time. Considering intersectionality at this level implies asking how global systems that produce inequality operate together. The challenge for macro-level thinking about intersectionality is to resist the long history of treating capitalism, class relations and the global economy as the most fundamental set of global relations. Intersectional theorizing at this level combines analysis of the emergent and relational properties of inequality-producing systems with an equally critical attitude to all of these structural inequalities. However, in contrast to top-down theorizing about abstract systems, intersectional macro-theorizing incorporates a focus on experience that enlarges the meaning of developing critique. This chapter situates the development of intersectional theory at the macro-level and highlights its contributions.

Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, 2020

In 2016, nationwide protests in Chile demanded a major reform to the privatized pension system. H... more In 2016, nationwide protests in Chile demanded a major reform to the privatized pension system. However, experts saw protesters’ demands as not a viable policy option. In this study, I demonstrate how a group of free-market economists acquired authority as experts in pension policy by gendering their expertise. As a result, they have been able to deny, suppress, and dismiss knowledge on topics and views aligned with citizens’ demands. First, my research shows how experts, through gender relations, create knowledge and ignorance in policymaking processes. Second, I demonstrate how free-market capitalism is legitimated through the hegemony of masculinity.

Sociology Compass, 2016

This paper delineates areas of research for the emergent sociology of expertise. We review how ex... more This paper delineates areas of research for the emergent sociology of expertise. We review how expertise has been studied in the sociology of professions, sociology of work, and sociology of science and technology, and we show the contribution that intersectionality can make in understanding processes of gendering expertise.

Revista de derecho (Valdivia), 2015

Esta investigación tiene por objetivo explorar desde una perspectiva de género los procesos que c... more Esta investigación tiene por objetivo explorar desde una perspectiva de género los procesos que condicionaron la discusión, diseño e implementación de la reforma procesal penal y de los tribunales de familia en Chile. El argumento central del artículo es que las relaciones de género estructuraron de manera diferente la experticia de los grupos promotores; proceso que trajo consecuencias concretas en la forma cómo ambas reformas fueron valoradas por las autoridades estatales. La experticia de los abogados fue masculinizada o feminizada de acuerdo con las competencias, alianzas, e ideas que los grupos movilizaron. El artículo subraya la importancia de explorar procesos de reforma judicial como una oportunidad única para examinar cómo se reproducen las desigualdades de género de la profesión legal en la manera cómo abogados imaginan y promueven cambios judiciales.

Gender & Society, 2015

Based on in-depth interviews with policymakers and archival data, we examine the policy debates o... more Based on in-depth interviews with policymakers and archival data, we examine the policy debates over court reform in family law and criminal law in Chile after the democratic transition. We introduce the concept of “gendered expertise” to capture the set of competences and claims organized around perceived gender differences and mobilized through gendered networks that we found in these debates. We show how gender structured and valorized lawyers’ expertise and shaped the differing outcomes in these two reforms. In the power struggles among law reformers, both men and women lawyers used gendered expertise as a resource for characterizing themselves and their opponents. In the end, criminal law reform not only received far more political and economic support for its implementation than any other Chilean judicial reform, but defined the appropriate political reforms in relation to gendered meanings of law and political reconciliation.

Latin American Perspectives, 2015

The politics of national reconciliation during the transitional period of the 1990s in Chile cons... more The politics of national reconciliation during the transitional period of the 1990s in Chile constructed a hegemonic framework that affected discourses in other domains in multilayered ways. In order to achieve consensus among its various factions, the Concertación used “reconciliation” discourse to portray the nation as a family, and potentially divisive issues were framed in the most apolitical, ahistorical, and technical way. In this context, gender violence was construed as a matter of family and individual liberties, and the objective of the first family violence law was maintaining the family intact. The framework of reconciliation and its association with Christian forgiveness and family unity promoted the use of conciliation rather than sentencing as the primary means of settling domestic violence disputes and made it difficult for those affected by gender violence to achieve justice. However, the foundational discourses of the 1990s served an important purpose in opening up...

Latin American Research Review, 53(3), 485–499, 2018

En abril del año 2015 se promulgó la ley que creó el acuerdo de unión civil en Chile. Este artícu... more En abril del año 2015 se promulgó la ley que creó el acuerdo de unión civil en Chile. Este artículo investiga las principales ideas discutidas en el debate legislativo y del rol que cumplieron profesores de derecho de familia invitados como expertos al mismo. Proponemos que la participación de estos abogados fue marginal dentro y fuera del Congreso. Como consecuencia, la ley que creó el acuerdo de unión civil presentó serias falencias. En este artículo proponemos considerar las batallas intra-profesionales por el reconocimiento de un saber experto, como un factor clave en la formulación de políticas en materia de género y sexualidad. Y de paso, esperamos abrir un debate desde una perspectiva interdisciplinaria que reimagine al derecho de familia desanclado de relaciones diádicas, centradas en la atracción sexual y orientadas a la procreación

Revista de Derecho (Valdivia) Vol. XXXI(2), 9-27., 2018

Mediante una etnografía judicial realizada en tribunales de familia en Santiago de Chile durante ... more Mediante una etnografía judicial realizada en tribunales de familia en Santiago de Chile durante el 2014, estudié cómo jueces y juezas manejan sus propias emociones y las emociones de otros para construir y validar su experticia judicial. La principal conclusión de este trabajo
es que jueces y juezas cultivan un capital emocional de cortesía e intimidación para proyectar seguridad y capacidad resolutiva. El problema, sin embargo, es que este complejo trabajo no
se reconoce a nivel institucional, lo que no solo impacta en la salud de estos funcionarios, sino también fomenta una generalizada devaluación profesional de su experticia judicial. Por otra parte, es una falta de reconocimiento que facilita la reproducción de prácticas autoritarias y paternalistas hacia usuarios y usuarias, y de normas culturales discriminatorias que, por ejemplo, sancionan a las mujeres juezas que se muestran intimidantes

Based on in-depth interviews with policymakers and archival data, we examine the policy debates o... more Based on in-depth interviews with policymakers and archival data, we examine the policy
debates over court reform in family law and criminal law in Chile after the democratic
transition. We introduce the concept of “gendered expertise” to capture the set of competences
and claims organized around perceived gender differences and mobilized through
gendered networks that we found in these debates. We show how gender structured and
valorized lawyers’ expertise and shaped the differing outcomes in these two reforms. In the
power struggles among law reformers, both men and women lawyers used gendered expertise
as a resource for characterizing themselves and their opponents. In the end, criminal
law reform not only received far more political and economic support for its implementation
than any other Chilean judicial reform, but defined the appropriate political reforms
in relation to gendered meanings of law and political reconciliation.

Esta investigación tiene por objetivo explorar desde una perspectiva de género los procesos que c... more Esta investigación tiene por objetivo explorar desde una perspectiva de género los procesos que condicionaron
la discusión, diseño e implementación de la reforma procesal penal y de los tribunales
de familia en Chile. El argumento central del artículo es que las relaciones de género estructuraron
de manera diferente la experticia de los grupos promotores; proceso que trajo consecuencias
concretas en la forma cómo ambas reformas fueron valoradas por las autoridades estatales. La
experticia de los abogados fue masculinizada o feminizada de acuerdo con las competencias,
alianzas, e ideas que los grupos movilizaron. El artículo subraya la importancia de explorar
procesos de reforma judicial como una oportunidad única para examinar cómo se reproducen las
desigualdades de género de la profesión legal en la manera cómo abogados imaginan y promueven
cambios judiciales.

The politics of national reconciliation during the transitional period of the 1990s in Chile cons... more The politics of national reconciliation during the transitional period of the 1990s in
Chile constructed a hegemonic framework that affected discourses in other domains in
multilayered ways. In order to achieve consensus among its various factions, the
Concertación used “reconciliation” discourse to portray the nation as a family, and potentially
divisive issues were framed in the most apolitical, ahistorical, and technical way. In
this context, gender violence was construed as a matter of family and individual liberties,
and the objective of the first family violence law was maintaining the family intact. The
framework of reconciliation and its association with Christian forgiveness and family unity
promoted the use of conciliation rather than sentencing as the primary means of settling
domestic violence disputes and made it difficult for those affected by gender violence to
achieve justice. However, the foundational discourses of the 1990s served an important
purpose in opening up discursive spaces on gender violence that could be further refined

Revista Fundación Paz Ciudadana. Tercer Simposio Nacional de Investigación sobre Violencia y Delincuencia

Blog Posts by Maria J Azocar

Routledge eBooks, Jul 11, 2023

Oxford University Press eBooks, Apr 20, 2023

Latin American Research Review, 2018

Oñati Socio-Legal Series, 2022

Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, 2020

Sociology Compass, 2016

Revista de derecho (Valdivia), 2015

Gender & Society, 2015

Latin American Perspectives, 2015

Latin American Research Review, 53(3), 485–499, 2018

Revista de Derecho (Valdivia) Vol. XXXI(2), 9-27., 2018

Based on in-depth interviews with policymakers and archival data, we examine the policy debates o... more Based on in-depth interviews with policymakers and archival data, we examine the policy
debates over court reform in family law and criminal law in Chile after the democratic
transition. We introduce the concept of “gendered expertise” to capture the set of competences
and claims organized around perceived gender differences and mobilized through
gendered networks that we found in these debates. We show how gender structured and
valorized lawyers’ expertise and shaped the differing outcomes in these two reforms. In the
power struggles among law reformers, both men and women lawyers used gendered expertise
as a resource for characterizing themselves and their opponents. In the end, criminal
law reform not only received far more political and economic support for its implementation
than any other Chilean judicial reform, but defined the appropriate political reforms
in relation to gendered meanings of law and political reconciliation.

Esta investigación tiene por objetivo explorar desde una perspectiva de género los procesos que c... more Esta investigación tiene por objetivo explorar desde una perspectiva de género los procesos que condicionaron
la discusión, diseño e implementación de la reforma procesal penal y de los tribunales
de familia en Chile. El argumento central del artículo es que las relaciones de género estructuraron
de manera diferente la experticia de los grupos promotores; proceso que trajo consecuencias
concretas en la forma cómo ambas reformas fueron valoradas por las autoridades estatales. La
experticia de los abogados fue masculinizada o feminizada de acuerdo con las competencias,
alianzas, e ideas que los grupos movilizaron. El artículo subraya la importancia de explorar
procesos de reforma judicial como una oportunidad única para examinar cómo se reproducen las
desigualdades de género de la profesión legal en la manera cómo abogados imaginan y promueven
cambios judiciales.

The politics of national reconciliation during the transitional period of the 1990s in Chile cons... more The politics of national reconciliation during the transitional period of the 1990s in
Chile constructed a hegemonic framework that affected discourses in other domains in
multilayered ways. In order to achieve consensus among its various factions, the
Concertación used “reconciliation” discourse to portray the nation as a family, and potentially
divisive issues were framed in the most apolitical, ahistorical, and technical way. In
this context, gender violence was construed as a matter of family and individual liberties,
and the objective of the first family violence law was maintaining the family intact. The
framework of reconciliation and its association with Christian forgiveness and family unity
promoted the use of conciliation rather than sentencing as the primary means of settling
domestic violence disputes and made it difficult for those affected by gender violence to
achieve justice. However, the foundational discourses of the 1990s served an important
purpose in opening up discursive spaces on gender violence that could be further refined

Revista Fundación Paz Ciudadana. Tercer Simposio Nacional de Investigación sobre Violencia y Delincuencia

Cuadernos de Analisis Juridico, Universidad Diego Portales