A análise das mobilizações a partir da categoria "novos movimentos sociais", construída na Europa, continua sendo dominante na abordagem dos movimentos latino-americanos. Este artigo lembra, na sua primeira parte, as especificidades dos movimentos "de base" nascidos durante os anos 1970 na América Latina. Em seguida, mostra as diferenças entre os debates e as abordagens das mobilizações, de um continente para o outro. Quando, sobre a América Latina, se insistiu muito sobre os valores, as mudanças culturais e as identidades, nos Estados Unidos o enfoque foi para a análise das organizações, das estratégias e das práticas. A terceira parte do artigo mostra as consequências dessa divergência científica para a observação dos processos de institucionalização dos movimentos sociais, assim como para a análise da contestação na América Latina nos anos 2000.

The Worker's Party (PT) was created in 1980 during the liberalization of authoritarian rule in Brazil, in the context of contentious mobilizations, which were especially strong in the union sector in São Paulo. The PT then attracted increasing support at the polls and won a number of local executives before winning the federal presidency in 2002; this process has often been labeled as "institutionalization". This paper defines the notion of institutionalization and proposes an approach for observing institutionalization processes at the grass roots of party organization. The paper then analyzes the PT's transformation at the national level, whereby it became a majority, consolidated its organization, and moderated its ideological discourses. We also analyze the social components of the institutionalization of the PT. Based on the case of rank-and-file PT members in Recife, we show that this process included upward social mobility for local party leadership, included party leaders as professionals in the political arena, and created a growing distance between the party organization and the contentious space.

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