Latin America is critical for understanding social inequalities for two seemingly contradictory reasons: On the one hand, it constitutes the most unequal region of the world. At the same time, however, it is the only region in which a reduction in inequalities in some selected countries in the past 20 years can be observed.

Against this background, desiguALdades.net is developing further on the interdependent inequalities approach to understanding social inequalities in Latin America at both the macro and micro levels.

On the macro level we defined three clusters which our previous research on the role of global entanglements in structuring social inequalities has identified as contributing to the persistence or even the increase of social inequalities and, nevertheless, as having the potential to decrease them: global structuration of inequalities, the limits to distribution, and the valorization of nature.

To demonstrate the usefulness of the concepts developed within the interdependent inequalities approach, at the micro level five focal studies will be conducted. These studies examine the linkage between global and transregional processes and local negotiations in specific empirical topics: migration; land and identities; the state and subnational inequalities; lithium mining and inequality; and REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) in Peru.