Conclusion: The Art of Voice

Abstract

“The art of voice.” Again, I take the phrase from Albert Hirschman, who uses it to refer to the creative impulses that emerge and thrive when people are afforded the possibility of or simply opt to express their discontent in the face of decline, as costumers, members, or citizens of a firm, organization, or state.¹ Some time ago, a brilliant scholar and friend told me, commenting on a feature video about the 2011 student uprisings in Chile, how impressed he was by the eloquence that develops when people exercise their voice. The video showed a flash mob of students dancing to Michael Jackson’s Thriller in the streets of Santiago de Chile.² “The exercise of voice,” my friend told me. “That’s the fundamental issue.”