"Los tengo plenamente identificados". Seguridad interna y control social en Chile, 1918-1925

Abstract

This article assesses the re-structuring of the Chilean State's repressive policies during the 1920s, especially in matters of citizen rights and social control. Our hypothesis is that State coercion was reformulated beginning in 1918, as social laws were deemed insufficient as a device for restoring domination. Coercion was seen as an instrument for disciplining the working class, punishing the more disruptive political elements, and broadening the State's socio-political control, since social reforms did not truly elicit elite consensus.