World Development Vol. 29, No. 9, pp. 1457±1482, 2001 Ó 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved Printed in Great Britain www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev 0305-750X/01/$ - see front matter PII: S0305-750X01)00058-4 Poverty and Mobility in Low-status Minorities: The Cuban Case in International Perspective

JACOB MEERMAN * Visiting Scholar, Johns Hopkins University, Washington, DC, USA Summary. Ð The paper traces the mobility experience of four low-status, hard-core minorities. It also addresses how governments and others attempt to close their poverty/status gap and with what success. Progress to socioeconomic parity has been uneven: nearly complete for Cuba's blacks ,but perhaps now regressing); at an early stage for India's Dalits ,``untouchables''); advanced but incomplete for Japan's Burakumin and US blacks. Analysis in the paper indicates how Cuba succeeded where other countries have not, and informs the speculation as to whether interracial equality can persist as Cuba becomes more market-oriented. The four-variable model underpins the analysis and integrates human capital theory with economic, sociological and historical theorizing. Ó 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Key words Ð discrimination, cultural endowments, education, human capital, labor markets, income/status parity

1. INTRODUCTION model is used to identify causes of the slow progress to parity of ranked, low-status mi- ,a) Overview norities and for evaluating the ecacy of e€orts to foster minority mobility. For the four Worldwide, low-status minorities are pre- groups, progress to parity with their majorities dominantly poor. 1 Poverty reduction is par- ,as measured by educational attainment, family ticularly dicult for minorities with a history of income, and markers for status) has been un- severe exploitation, inter alia, because they even: apparently nearly complete for Cuba's ``inherit'' cultural disadvantages that reinforce blacks; at an early stage for India's Dalits; well the general causes of poverty. Many govern- advanced but with many still caught in poverty ments have attempted to bring these groups to traps for Japan's Burakumin and black Amer- social and economic parity with their majori- icans. ties. This paper reports on research that traces The main reason for publishing a paper on the mobility experience of four such low-status, this work at this stage is the desire to bring the highly disadvantaged minorities ,India's Dalits Cuban experience to the fore. The recent his- or scheduled castes, Japan's Burakumin, tory of black Cubans indicates that they had Cuba's blacks and US blacks), but concentrates largely achieved equality with their majority, as on the Cuban experience. Comparison among measured by income, occupational distribution, the four makes sense because of their similari- educational attainment and health status. This ties: all share the culture of their corresponding presents a striking exception to the rule that majorities; all have a history of profound ex- achievement of socioeconomic parity by highly ploitation by their majorities; all have govern- exploited minorities historically ranked near ments long dedicated to bringing them into the the bottom of their social hierarchies 2 is nec- economic mainstream. The key research ques- essarily a slower process than that of other low- tions are: why is progress slow; how do the status minorities, such as voluntary immigrant minorities themselves, their governments, and communities. Discussion on ``why and the others attempt to close the poverty/status gap; wherefore'' of this experience has been limited, and with what success. The research relies heavily on human capital theory, and pulls to- gether accepted theorizing and ®ndings from * The author thanks the two reviewers for several several social science disciplines. The resulting helpful suggestions Final revision accepted: 5 April 2001. 1457 1458 WORLD DEVELOPMENT notwithstanding its implications for policy majorities in that a higher proportion of their work. The paper responds to this issue in con- members are socially immobile, caught in sidering the Cuban experience on several di- ``poverty traps,'' at the bottom of the relative mensions. ,i) It seeks to show why planned and income distributions. 4 rapid basic social change on a broad scale was Cost are also high for society as a whole. feasible. ,``Stateways can change folkways'' 3) Diminished social cohesion between minority ,ii) It suggests that the negative impact on hu- and others is one such cost. In line with Put- man development of destructive cultural en- nam's theorizing about social capital, dimin- dowments can be quickly overcome on a mass ished social cohesion implies that interaction basis. ,iii) It implicitly presents further evidence between majority and disadvantaged minority against the thesis of systematic di€erences individuals, be it business, social or political, on among ethnic groups ,including races) with average involves higher transaction costs than respect to innate or genetic capacity for eco- similar transactions among people with greater nomic productivity. mutual trust and respect. In consequence, The paper compares the mobility experience progress in building the institutions and in- of Cuba's blacks with those of the other three vesting the capital, human and material, needed minorities and indicates why Cuba succeeded for political and economic development may be whereas other countries have not. Research on signi®cantly slowed. These underlying social Cuba is needed to con®rm this success story; dynamics explain part of the negative relation to determine why cultural endowments of between economic growth and economic in- Cuban blacks appear to have been less of a equality. In addition, aggregate savings and problem than in other countries; to trace the both human and conventional capital forma- role of Cuba's education system in bringing tion are reduced because hard-core low-status blacks to parity; and to determine whether groups are discouraged both from acquiring Cuba's interracial equality can persist as the skills and experience, and from entering occu- Cuban economy evolves from a socialist to- pations that provide them the highest earnings. ward a market-oriented/private-property sys- Moreover, resources that could ®nance devel- tem. opment expenditures are diverted to repressive or compensatory uses. In sum, low-status mi- norities su€er more than their fair share of life's ,b) High social costs of majority-over-minority misfortunes. They are involved in a nexus of systems unnecessarily high social and personal costs, while the larger society and economy also incur The four low-status minorities in this re- signi®cant costs. search incur unusually high social costs. During the course of economic development they move ,c) Four minorities more slowly out of poverty than the majority or many other minorities. Their slow road to The research focuses on India's Dalits or equality derives from their history of exploita- scheduled castes, Cuban blacks, Japan's Bu- tion, including slavery and outcaste status. rakumin, and US blacks. These were chosen Within their countries, they have lower incomes because ,because of historical or continuing restrictions Ðtheir national governments have made on access to education and occupations), a sustained e€ects to integrate them into the higher incidence of disability and illness mainstream, since the WW II or earlier; ,physical and mental), and shorter life spans Ðthey are ``hard-core'' in that many of their than the corresponding majorities. Psychologi- members have been extremely slow to cal costs, including those that result from a achieve economic and social parity with their reduced sense of worth, are also high. Because majorities; of these handicaps they also absorb a dispro- Ðthe countries di€er substantially in their portionate share of public resources that ®- degree of economic development, in their nance welfare programs, hospitalization, foster ideology, and in their political institutions; parenthood, homeless shelters, rehabilitation Ðthe four minorities themselves have simi- programs, prisons, etc. But members of these lar basic characteristics that facilitate com- minorities are not uniformly poor. They di€er parison among them. These are: from majorities in having relatively more poor ,i) In contrast to ethnic groups in which ac- and fewer rich. They also di€er from their tive membership is to a degree voluntary LOW-STATUS MINORITIES 1459

,Chiswick, 1998), membership in these mi- role of each of the four is explained below. They norities is publicly imposed and dicult are then used to describe the mobility paths and to escape. progress to parity of each of the four minorities. ,ii) Unlike ethnic minorities that advocate We begin with the fourth variable, the pace of separation from the larger state, most economic development. members of these four minorities desire ac- ceptance as citizens with economic and so- cial status equal to those of the majority. ,b) Growth and social integration ,iii) The four minorities are native-borne. They share the majority culture ,language, Table 1 shows that the four minorities are in religions, and mores) and are geographi- countries at di€erent stages of economic de- cally dispersed within their countries. But velopment. This permits research to see each has developed a subculture re¯ecting whether development per se brings improved its special historical experience that in part economic status for durable, low-status mi- contradicts the corresponding majority cul- norities. Thus, possibly the best remedy for ture. Inter alia, the subcultures support mi- poverty of such groups is labor-intensive, nority self-esteem. rapid economic growth. Why might this be the ,iv) Each minority has a history of labor case? Development requires urbanization, exploitation by the majority traditionally which weakens traditional social structures rationalized by myths of genetic and possi- such as caste and other rigid class systems bly other inherent shortcomings such as ,Myrdal, 1944, p. xxviii, 1962 ed.). Increased bad karma. access to and quality of education are neces- Since the minorities cannot strongly threaten sary conditions of development. Because of the larger state ,although they cause riots and urbanization and the spread of education, other violent actions) their governments have discrimination against low status ethnic mi- been able to concentrate on measures to pro- norities often gradually loses its legitimacy mote their integration as equals into the larger among the majority, particularly where na- society. Urgent resolution of state-threatening tional ideology is egalitarian, so that there violent con¯ict has rarely been the ®rst order of arises support for public measures to reduce business. and o€set labor-market, educational and other discrimination. Further, insofar as educational achievement of low-status, ethnic minorities 2. THEORY increases as development proceeds, one would also expect increasingly e€ective minority ,a) Four explanatory variables leadership and political organization, at least in countries that permit a minimum of politi- The ``mobility model'' developed below has cal competition. four independent variables: the degree of labor Rapid growth also implies rapid increase in market discrimination, the educational attain- middle-class job opportunities, both because ment of low-status minorities, the quality of growth usually brings increasing demand for minority earning endowments ,de®ned below), all kinds of labor, but also because growth and the pace of economic development. The key gradually leads to middle-class economies hypothesis is that the behavior of these variables in which the continually declining share of caused most of the progress to status parity of subsistence farming is paralleled by an in- the four minorities in the last half century. The creasing share of middle-class jobs in total

Table 1. Basic data on the four minorities Millions % of population National GNPa Historical status Emancipation per head ,$) Dalits of India 150 16 1,240 Outcaste 1948 Cuban blacks 4 34 3,000 Slave 1886 Burakumin of Japan 2±3 1±2 20,680 Outcaste 1871 Blacks of USA 31 11 24,680 Slave 1865 Source for the ®rst and second columns is Minority Rights Group International ,1997). a GNP data are in 1993 US dollars, using a purchasing-power-parity concept, and taken from UNDP ,1997), Human Development Report, 1996 1460 WORLD DEVELOPMENT employment. Hiestand analyzed the operation learning in response to education supplied. of labor markets from this perspective with The quality and magnitude of human capital emphasis on short-term e€ects. He concluded, embedded in the individual is, therefore, a for the United States, ``that the occupational function of the quality and quantity of edu- and income position of minorities improves cation supplied and the quality of individual signi®cantly relative to whites only in periods learning processes in assimilating education to of very full employment.... In the absence of a create human capital. buoyant job market, there are fewer opportu- In Becker's human-capital model, capacity to nities for new hires and promotions and ma- learn or to capitalize on schooling investment is jority group workers ®ght for and tend to win determined by the individual's combined ge- those which become available'' ,Hiestand, netic and cultural endowment ,Becker, 1997; 1973, p. 176). Becker & Tomes, 1984, Chapter X). Genetic So, development and the gradual ``univer- endowment is inherited from parents. Most of salization'' of education and urbanization that the cultural endowment is also ``inherited'' accompany it imply both improved economic from parents or other care providers. Cultural opportunities ,reduced discrimination and in- endowment includes beliefs and values about creasing share of middle-class job openings) for the ``rules of the game'' for social life and in- these minorities and increased ability to re- dividual behavior and the habit of adhering to spond to opportunities. This reasoning suggests those rules. Self-identi®cation, attitudes and a rank ordering of countries. To the degree that customs are also acquired primarily through GNP per person is an instrumental ,proxy) family culture but also from the general social variable for factors that correlate with degree of environment in which children grow up, in- development and that lead to equalization of cluding school and peer-group experience. The minority economic status, then progress of low- degree of self-esteem, the kinds of aspirations, status ethnic minorities in moving to economic and the degree to which grati®cation can be parity with the majority should be least for postponed are also important facets of the India's Dalits, followed by Cuban blacks, while earnings endowment. The endowment also af- Japan's Burakumin and US blacks should be in fects the capacity of deal in abstractions, and to the lead. Actually, the research shows that use language at a high level, skills directly rel- Cuba's blacks were ahead of the other groups evant to school performance 5 Becker further in having largely achieved socioeconomic parity de®nes the earnings endowment as those as- with the Cuban majority. Why this occurred is pects of the genetic and cultural endowments discussed in the body of the paper. Cuba's ex- that a€ect the individual's ability to acquire perience may well be the exception that human capital. Becker's earnings endowment is ``proofs'' or tests the rule. determined during childhood and thereafter immutable. Becker's model is applied in this analysis with ,c) Human capital models two modi®cations. First, most of the earnings endowment is in place by age six, but in con- One necessary condition for achieving parity trast to Becker, it is posited that the earnings of economic status by low-income minorities is endowment remains somewhat plastic during acquisition of human capital equal to that of childhood and becomes nearly immutable at the majority. This implies acquisition of skills, adolescence. Second as the child matures, its knowledge, and habits that the market values. earnings endowment is increasingly a€ected by Under such conditions plus nondiscriminatory nonparental in¯uences. It is also postulated labor and other markets minority incomes that genetic endowments a€ect earnings en- may become equal to those of the majority. dowments variably but not systematically. The State action to reduce labor market discrimi- model implies that weak earnings endowments nation ,by laws and their enforcement) may reduce the propensity to learn and at the ex- often be less dicult than o€setting disparate treme can result in individuals who are uned- educational attainment because many minori- ucable. ties are socially disadvantaged in acquiring education. Human capital models clarify this ,d) Empirical support for the model diculty. In this approach, earned income depends on the earner's human capital, most Recent work on early childhood develop- of which is accumulated through individual ment by social scientists and on the early LOW-STATUS MINORITIES 1461 development of the brain by neuroscientists age early in life they embed poorer quality leads inevitably to the conclusion that the earning endowments, and because of lower environments of infants and toddlers, and the human capital investments as a result of sub- earnings endowments that result have crucial median parental incomes and, ®nally, because impact or future performance in school, and of reduced access to public educational in- later on class destination ,Mustard, 2000; vestments and relatively poor quality of those Willms, 2000). A fundamental policy prescrip- investments including the quality of schools tion from this work is the need to intervene and teachers. The same factors explain the during the pre-school years with both child and positive correlation between children's scores parent beginning as early as life in possible to on aptitude and achievement tests and paren- ``short circuit'' the development of inadequate tal socioeconomic status. earnings endowments. For any large population there is substantial The Becker human capital model is also variance in the scores for aptitude and consistent with the statistical studies that relate achievement tests of children with parents of measures of socioeconomic status and educa- equal incomes. Much of the variance in test tional attainment. Empirical statistical studies scores for groups so de®ned can also be ex- always show both that on average an individ- plained by di€erences in earnings endowments ual's human capital in large part determines and ``homegrown'' human capital. Currently, her/his earnings, ceteris paribus, and a positive in the United States, for example, on average, correlation between parents and children's children of recent East Asian migrants acquire income. 6 This is consistent with positive more human capital and income than other correlation of the earnings endowment, and children whose parents have similar incomes. human-capital formation with parental income The culture of most immigrant East Asians that is indicated by a large body of work on explains this disparity: it appears East Asian determinants of family income distributions children receive substantial homegrown human and mobility. Empirical work also shows that capital and strong earnings endowments. The monetary investment in children's education is latter include, inter alia, high value given to an increasing function of parental income. This economic achievement; belief that high makes children's human capital an economic achievement is feasible through educational good ``consumed'' by parents, which is consis- attainment; strong belief that discipline, appli- tent with the human capital model. cation, and reliability will pay o€ in educational Notwithstanding the positive intergenera- attainment; and behavior consistent with these tional income correlation in all empirical stud- beliefs. As discussed below, in general the ies, there is also substantial intergenerational children of voluntary immigrants test out income mobility, that is, intergenerational higher than those of involuntary immigrants, shifts in the rank position of children relative to such as the four minorities of this research parents in the rank distribution of income. At program in part because of subaverage earning the extremes, such income shifts always involve endowments of the latter. positional regression to the mean. In the Bec- Haveman and Wolfe ,1995) reviewed a recent ker/Tomes model the shift is explained in part set of studies of US statistical relationships as the result of limited ``hereditability'' of en- between educational attainment and earnings, dowments so that the propensity to learn re- as well as adolescent fertility. They provide a gresses to the mean over several generations. taxonomy of the variables, methods and results Possibly, an important e€ect limiting intergen- of these studies. Most of the studies apply erational maintenance of endowments is the human-capital models similar to that of Becker. degree to which marriage is not assortative As usual, the strong relationship between positive. In other words, positional income parental socioeconomic status and children's mobility, up or down, is increased to the degree attainments is con®rmed. The studies employ a that individuals marry out of their income wide range of methodologies and data ,longi- class. tudinal panels, government-produced socio- The human capital model is consistent with economic statistics, sample surveys). Some of empirical ®ndings showing that poorer chil- the studies supplement the core human capital dren on average acquire lower human capital model with a concentration on additional than those of the better o€. They do less well variables that may a€ect individual educational in school and stop schooling earlier. Presum- attainment, including family structure ,two ably, in large degree, this is because on aver- parents or one; working mothers or not), 1462 WORLD DEVELOPMENT di€erential ``impact'' on attainments of welfare ucation and other aspects of the earnings en- income as opposed to earned income, and dowment. 7 Waters ,1999) reaches similar neighborhood e€ects ,impact of average edu- conclusions in her study of recent black im- cation levels of neighbors, their frequency on migrants from the West Indies to the United welfare, and unemployment rates). States. She ®nds that the immigrants them- The human capital model provides a good ®t selves are upwardly mobile, while their chil- for the work of the anthropologists John Ogbu, dren may or may not be upwardly mobile, Margaret A. Gibson, and others, as well as the depending on the degree to which they identify sociologist Mary Waters. These compare vol- with low-income, native-born, black Ameri- untary immigrants with involuntary minorities cans. Although she uses di€erent language, the ,de®ned by Ogbu as highly exploited low-status intervening variable that has strongest impact groups because of former outcaste, slavery or on which of these two possibilities becomes colonization status). They ®nd that the indi- reality is the content of the earnings environ- vidual's earnings endowment is negatively af- ments inherited by the children, which she fected by the belief that one su€ers ®nds to vary systematically by parental class discrimination due to one's ethnic origins. origins ,Waters, 1999). Ogbu and his associates explain the very dif- The Ogbu model is relevant for explaining ferent mobility experience of voluntary immi- the ``poverty traps'' of the hard-core, lowest- grants to the United States and to other income groups within the four minorities countries compared to that of involuntary mi- studied. Nevertheless, cultural endowments norities in terms of ``cultural models [that] evolve, and many in the four minorities of this shape attitudes, knowledge and competencies'' paper have earnings endowments that have that lead to ``oppositional identities'' ,Ogbu & helped them move into the middle classes. Gibson, 1991, p. 17). Voluntary immigrants Presumably, these middle-class subgroups do have a not see majority behavior and institutions as entirely checking minority upward mobility. frame of reference that entails comparing their present Rather, minority members see behavior, and situation with...``back home'' [which leads them to institutions as a ``mixed bag'' so that simple believe] that they have more and better opportunities oppositional identity is not universally present in their host society for themselves or for their chil- among them. dren...the immigrants think that even if they are al- lowed only marginal jobs they are better o€ in their Using the human capital model to interpret host society than they would be in their homeland. the empirical record shows clearly that if and Barriers will be overcome with hard work and more only if earnings endowments universally imply education ,p. 11). equal individual propensities to learn will equal access to education be equivalent to equal op- In contrast, involuntary minorities ``tend to portunity. This needs stressing since there is interpret the discrimination against them as widespread belief that equal educational op- permanent and institutionalized'' ,p. 14). portunity is tantamount to equal opportunity. Ogbu concludes, for example, that black To the present, highly variable individual Americans are ambivalent about education as earnings endowments have made attainment of the way to ``get ahead,'' because of the long equal opportunity impossible. exclusion of US blacks from high-status oc- For hard-core, poor minorities, the degree to cupational categories. Moreover, ``Crossing which dysfunctional learning endowments are cultural boundaries, behaving in a manner inevitably ``inherited,'' plus the role of home- regarded as falling under the white American grown human capital are of the essence. This cultural frames of reference, is threatening to section hypothesizes that the durability of the their minority identity and security, but also high incidence of poverty among three of to their solidarity'' ,Ogbu, 1990, p. 155). Ogbu the four low-status ``hard-core'' minorities of concludes that the weak propensities to learn the study is caused by the durability of earning of many members of involuntary minorities endowments that produce a low propensity to are largely a consequence of the heritage and learn. Low endowments may also be associated current experience of exploitative economic with low production of homegrown human relations and current ``oppositional identity'' capital. As a consequence, the hard-core poor of these groups. In brief, Ogbu argues that of highly disadvantaged, low-status minorities how a minority perceives its opportunity set in can capitalize on opportunities, in particular large degree determines its orientation to ed- education, in limited degree. LOW-STATUS MINORITIES 1463

Both John Ogbu and Mary Waters stress the Maharathi language) that make up India's propensity of low-status involuntary minorities scheduled castes are at the bottom of the Indian to organize and agitate collectively for com- caste system as measured by GDP per head. pensatory measures: ``Because involuntary mi- Many Dalits work in ``polluting'' occupations norities see the rules of the game as stacked ,animal slaughter and disposal of night soil), against them, and permanent, their folk theory although most are marginal farmers or landless of how to make it in society stresses collective farm laborers. Historically quarantined outside e€ort and group challenges as the ways to of villages, and denied access to most occupa- overcome barriers set up by whites'' ,Waters, tions, these ``untouchable'' outcastes were ex- 1999, p. 143). One common form of such e€orts cluded from activity that involved interaction is agitation for labor-market and educational with other castes. Endogamy was the rule. preferences or armative action. Involuntary These restrictions persist, particularly in rural minorities probably bring to bear lawsuits, areas, notwithstanding constitutional guaran- various kinds of remedial programs involving tees prohibiting them. Many Hindus consider heavy public expenditures, and other forms of the exploitation of the Dalits by the Hindu collective action more than other low-status majority as just: ``We Brahmans and other minorities. castes are instruments. God uses us as His in- struments in order to impose on the untouch- ,e) Discrimination ables the punishment that their karma [retribution for bad behavior in earlier lives] To achieve status/income parity requires has earned for them'' ,Zelliot, 1992, p. 161). elimination, by and large, of discrimination in About 90% of Dalits still live in rural areas. In labor markets, and in access to education, but some states, seasonal migration of Dalit farm- also in land, ®nance and other capital markets. ers and farm workers to ®nd work and avoid Discrimination against historically ranked mi- starvation is forced by the annual agricultural norities occurs in all of the countries included cycle. Many urban Dalits literally live on the in this review. Institutions ,property rights, streets. There are also urban middle-class Dal- contract law, labor law, bankruptcy law and its that have acquired substantial education. procedures, licensing regulations, etc.) that Many of the latter have bene®ted from job support and otherwise impinge on the opera- preferences as well. tion of key markets must also become nondis- The national government has been the criminatory. For example, India's Dalits, in the strongest and most sustained force for bringing majority rural farmers or farm laborers, have Dalits to majority parity. The basic means have been kept from land ownership and have only been attempts to enforce and build on consti- bene®ted in limited degree from land-reforms tutional provisions in favor of Dalits: undertaken by some of India's states. In all ÐLegal equality: The Indian Constitution four countries, discrimination in labor markets ,e€ective since 1950) removed untouchability is a paramount issue because ``earnings are in ``any form or shape [and] made it a pun- practically the sole income for most persons'' ishable o€ence'' ,Article 1). It guarantees ,Becker & Tomes, 1984, p. 262). Hence upward equality before the law and prohibits dis- mobility for the four low-status minorities crimination against any citizen on grounds usually implies moving into increasingly of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. remunerative employment. Members of these All citizens of India are to have access to minorities, perhaps even more than in other public places, including roads, public wells low-income groups, mainly move into the eco- shops hotels, restaurants, etc. nomic mainstream as employees rather than as ÐElectoral empowerment: The Constitution self-employed. 8 reserves 15% of the seats in the lower house of parliament for members of the scheduled castes. ,Dalits are about 15% of India's pop- 3. THE MOBILITY EXPERIENCE OF ulation.) THREE MINORITIES 9 ÐReservation policy: Although the constitu- tion assures equal treatment in qualifying for ,a) India's Dalits public employment, it also states ``Nothing ... shall prevent the state from making any The one hundred and ®fty or sixty million provisions for the reservation of appoint- Dalits ,broken or oppressed people in the ments or posts in favor of any backward 1464 WORLD DEVELOPMENT

class of citizens which in the opinion of the Table 2. Literacy rates in Tamil Nadu, 1971±91 State is not adequately represented in the 1971 1981 1991 services under the state'' ,Article 16). Article Schedules castes 22 30 39 15 expressly permits discrimination in favor ,Dalits) of groups ``not adequately represented in Scheduled tribes 9 20 28 the services under the state.'' Other population 44 51 58 Reservation policy promotes scheduled caste Source: Tamilnadu Peoples' Forum for Social Devel- ,SC) employment throughout the public sector opment ,1999, p. 21). ,civil service, banks, public enterprises, public education, armed forces, medical services, etc.) in proportion to their weight in the general Partitions of government data that directly population. Its second prong is reservation of a measure poverty and socioeconomic status similar proportion of places for Dalit students rarely include Dalits as a category. But other in certain institutions of higher education, e.g., data indicate their low status: technology institutes, professional schools, etc. ÐSince 1948, thousands of Dalits have been Several laws have been passed to implement killed in communal violence, frequently dur- reservation policy. ing attempts to exercise legal rights. Caste Award of preferences, however, has been far Hindus annually rape, murder and maim below constitutional provisions. Many author- hundreds of Dalits, usually with impunity. ities ignore the implementation regulations Landlord±tenant ®ghts trigger many of these passed in the Parliament; corruption at the crimes. Others have resulted from electoral point of job application and school admission coercion by armed gangs, and from demon- has been common; riots that occasionally have strations against the reservation policy. In brought bloodshed and death have also limited reaction to Dalit protests in national and implementation. Reservation quotas have been state legislatures, the press, etc., the national completely ®lled only at the lower echelons of government has responded with commis- the public services, such as sweepers and sions of inquiry that have led to several laws messengers. Probably less than 3% of the Dalit designed to protect Dalits, most recently, the population has bene®ted from reservation Prevention of Atrocities Act of 1989. Never- policy. theless, in 1997, 8,540 crimes against Dalits Land redistribution may have brought sub- were reported to the police, including 261 stantial bene®t to a signi®cant share of rural murders and 302 rapes. This is a very small Dalits as the largest group of the landless poor. part of the total crimes against Dalits. Usu- Kerala's socialist government purchased land ally the police do not investigate atrocities; from the original landowners and resold it to even if there is a police report, the courts tenants who were to repay in installments over rarely adjudicate them. time. According to one source, not a single ÐIn spite of national legislation prohibiting tenant lost his land under this procedure. In dry latrines, about 700,000 women ,Banghis) Gujarat, under the state's Tenancy Act, 0.7 still earn their living by ``manual scaveng- million tenants out of a total of 1.3 million ing'' ,removal of feces from dry latrines became landowners. Notwithstanding these and its transport by head-load to disposal changes, nationwide in 1992, over 86% of Dalit sites). Many, perhaps most, of these women households were still landless or nearly landless believe themselves unable to perform alter- ,National Campaign of Dalit Human Rights, native work. The retraining programs envis- 1999). aged and funded by the national government National educational data comparing Dalits have been unable to reach them. They con- to other Indians are rare. Nevertheless it is tinue to pass on weak earnings endowments generally accepted that the education of Dalits to their children. lags the rest of the country. Probably most ÐOne estimate ®nds about forty million Dalits leave school before completing the rural laborers bonded to landlords ,in many fourth grade. The national average educational cases for many years) to pay debts contracted attainment is higher. Tamil Nadu provides data at very high interest rates. In many cases the partitioned by Dalits and other groups. Table 2 loans are contracted to be paid o€ through shows a substantial increase in Dalit literacy the labor of individuals put into bondage by since 1971, but Dalits still lag far behind the family relations who bene®ted from the loan. majority of the state. The majority of those bonded are Dalits. LOW-STATUS MINORITIES 1465

The Indian government's e€ort to legislate sionally used as executioners or to suppress basic elimination of outcaste and untouchable peasant revolts. Local governments often status has been overwhelmingly defeated by the forced Buraku to operate leper hospitals majority which continues to exclude and punish placed within their boundaries. Prohibited Dalits in many ways. Among the four minori- from marrying outside their caste, they were ties of the research, William Graham Sumner's and are still considered by many Japanese as theory that ``state ways cannot change folk- carriers of bad blood whose blemished nature ways'' ,1934) appears by far most applicable to is inherited by their children ,Neary, 1989). the Indian caste system. Prior to the 1960s many Japanese were un- It is dicult to believe that most of India's aware of their existence. In 1871, with the Dalits will be able to escape from their tradi- Meiji Restoration, Burakumin were emanci- tional low status as long as a large majority of pated as ``new common citizens.'' Nevertheless India's population ,including the Dalits) re- endogamy, residential segregation, restriction mains rural and dependent on subsistence ag- to low-status work and widespread discrimi- riculture. Traditional Hinduism is profoundly nation continued to be the rule up to the antithetical to the egalitarian ideals expressed 1950s. in the national constitution. Urbanization is Japan's constitution, adopted in 1946 during probably a necessary but not a sucient con- the US military occupation, guarantees all dition for creating new social structures and Japanese equality before the law; prohibition belief systems that can support Dalit integra- of discrimination based on race, creed, sex, tion at socioeconomic parity with the rest of social status or family origin: free choice of India. Currently, more than two-thirds of In- occupation and marriage: right to work and to dia's population are rural. education correspondent to each person's ability. The Labor standards Act of 1947 ,b) Japan's Burakumin prohibits wage and other forms of labor dis- crimination. Notwithstanding these provisions The two or three million Burakumin, out of there is no legislation that speci®cally de®nes total population of 125 million, have their and punishes the various kinds of labor mar- origin in Japan's past as a caste society. ket discrimination. Although genetically and culturally indistin- Despite constitutional guarantees, to the guishable from other Japanese, they originally present, Burakumin rank below the majority encompassed two separate endogamous whether measured by income, educational groups: those in traditionally ``polluting'' oc- attainment, social deviancy or occupational cupations ,animal slaughter, tanning, disposal structure. Their employment is disproportion- of dead people and large animals) and certain ately high in low-wage, unstable and low-pres- social deviants ,beggars, prostitues, rebellious tige occupations. They also have above average peasants) ,Hirasawa, 1989, p. 31). These rates of public assistance and unemployment. outcastes, today's Burakumin ,an euphemism Egregious but clandestine employment dis- meaning village ‰BurakuŠ people ‰minŠ), were crimination against Burakumin by large mod- forced to live apart from regular citizens in ern ®rms has been well documented. Yet, some undesirable areas, e.g, on steep hill-sides, river Burakumin have become wealthy and many ¯ood plains and other waste lands in Buraku have moved to middle-class status. This out- ,5,300 were counted in 1935) that at times come is re¯ected in national data on educa- were deliberately left o€ of maps. Burakumin tional attainment. As indicated in Table 3, by were forced to wear distinctive ,and humiliat- 1993 about 41% of Burakumin had completed ing) clothing such as blue collars or forced to secondary education compared to 68% for the cut their hair short or leave their heads un- total population. covered at all times ,Japan an illustrated en- Twelve percentage of the population had cyclopedia, 1993, p. 535). During the 18th graduated from a university, compared to 3% century they were prohibited from entering of the Burakumin, although very few of the private homes and public places such as latter graduated from a prestige school. At- shrines and temples. They were not allowed to tainment of higher-level education concentrates attend school. A few low-status occupations among the younger Burakumin, but they lag were open to them: leatherwork, bamboo signi®cantly behind the majority at the post- manufactures, subsistence farming, street- secondary levels. Today over 90% of Japanese cleaning, grave digging, etc. They were occa- enter senior high school, which starts at the 1466 WORLD DEVELOPMENT

Table 3. Highest level of education attained by Burakumin and total population 8%) Burakumin, Total 1993 population, 1990 Primary school certi®cation 55 32 Secondary school certi®cation 32 45 Higher education certi®cation 5 9 Nonattendance and drops-outs at primary level 4 2 Source: Government of Japan ,1995).

10th grade. 10 Table 4 shows that since 1985, wages foregone. The public schools also es- immediately following graduation from senior tablished remedial education programs to secondary school, more than a third of main- supplement regular schoolwork. The na- line secondary school graduates go on to higher tional government ®nanced and continues education, whereas less than a quarter of Bu- to ®nance scholarships and other costs of at- rakumin are admitted. Were it feasible to adjust tending senior high school, colleges and uni- these data for the status of the various post- versities, as well as to provide interest-free secondary schools, this discrepancy would in- educational loans for Burakumin. Prefecture crease. and local governments built hundreds of In contrast to India or the United States, the community centers, oriented to children Japanese government has not relied at all on and adolescents, in Buraku settlements. preferential hiring or preferential school ad- Their programs included ,and may still in- missions to promote Burakumin mobility. Nor clude) child-care for working mothers, vari- has it attempted to put legislation on the books ous programs to build political awareness to punish discrimination against Burakumin. and self-esteem ,heroes of the Buraku libera- During 1970±95, remedial policies at all levels tion movement) and supplementary classes. of government took the form of ®nancial sup- In the 1970s, these remedial classes fre- port, mostly for three kinds of undertaking: quently emphasized Japanese language arts ÐBuraku ghettos were made habitable by ,essay writing, use of Chinese characters) providing paved streets, electricity, piped since competence in these subjects is critical water and sewers, adequate housing, and in gaining admission to higher education. community facilities. At present, some Buraku children partici- ÐBuraku families began to receive subsidies pate in supplementary academic classes pro- for apartment rental and daycare. Today in vided at the centres from pre-kindergarten most Buraku, many apartments are still sub- through the third grade. In the past, volun- sidized according to family incomes. Prefec- teer teachers, themselves Burakumin, trained tures and local governments provide well by each center, taught such classes. over half of these funds. Total expenditures under these three kinds of ÐA very large amount of ®nancial support programs have not been estimated because of was used to increase rapidly the educational the diculty in accounting for the many hun- attainments of the Burakumin. Much of this dreds of contributing governments at all levels. took the form of regular payments to Bu- The total is clearly in the 10s of billions of raku families to cover school costs, including dollars. The Burakumin Liberation League, the well- organized and highly militant national Buraku advocacy organization, played a key role in Table 4. Percentage of secondary school graduates ad- managing the uses and allocation of ®nancial mitted to higher education, Burakumin and total popula- support. The BLL has also been extremely tion, at year of graduation, multiyear averages militant in the ``struggle for Burakumin rights'' Graduation Burakumin All S.S. Di€erence by orchestrating thousands of protests, denun- years graduates ciations and intimidations against those be- 1979±84 16.3 36.4 20.1 lieved guilty of discrimination, and in 1985±89 19.2 30.6 11.4 particular against discrimination in the work 1990±94 21.5 33.1 11.6 place. The BLL is one reason why there is no 1995±97 26.6 39.1 12.5 overt discrimination against the Burakumin in Source: Government of Japan ,2000). Japan's work places and school system. LOW-STATUS MINORITIES 1467

Educational data indicate that the Buraku- may be that many Burakumin, including the min experience is consistent with the mobility children of mixed marriages, have simply model. Table 4 shows that the parity gap in managed to walk away from their historical their attainment of higher education ,college identity. There may remain, however, a hard- and university) has remained nearly constant core for whom a shifting of identity is not since 1985. For 1985±97, the percentage of the possible, because of their psychology and ma- Burakumin high school graduating class ,most jority discrimination. Japanese complete senior high school) admitted to higher education is 12 percentage points less ,c) US blacks than the corresponding percentage for the ma- jority notwithstanding widespread availability The American Civil War followed by of college-level scholarships for Burakumin. Amendment XIII to the US Constitution Adjusting the data to consider type of higher ,1865) ended slavery, although the South, education pursued, would show an even larger where most black Americans lived, rapidly be- disparity because Burakumin rarely attend came a de facto caste society. Southern blacks prestigious universities. Presumably, low earn- were segregated from whites, prohibited from ings endowment explains much of the lower using public facilities meant for whites and admission rate of the Burakumin. Anecdotal were largely prohibited from higher status oc- evidence also suggests relatively high frequency cupations. The few black professionals that of low earnings endowments among the emerged were generally excluded from supply- Burakumin. Their children have lower self- ing their services outside of the black commu- esteem, and less motivation to strive for edu- nity. Schools were segregated and schools for cational achievement than mainline Japanese. blacks underfunded and of poor quality. Leg- Some Japanese analysts have concluded that islation and custom militated against land Burakumin parents undervalue education and ownership by blacks. Black farmers usually are less supportive to their children in acquiring sharecropped for white landowners. State laws it. It is also asserted that Japan's tenacious, prohibited racial intermarriage. Poll taxes ,tax clandestine labor-market discrimination levied on the person), educational requirements against the Burakumin is an important factor for voting and other devices disenfranchised the in reducing their motivation for achieving majority of black voters. higher education, and a cause for a lower share The WW II marks the beginning of three of Burakumin getting higher education than the decades of rapid improvement in the status of majority. 11 blacks. Two complementary sets of forces were The durability of the Burakumin's distinct at work: the politically oriented civil rights identity and status is at issue. Ocial data ®nd movement and the impact of the rapidly ex- that three-quarters of Burakumin married and panding economy. Political action accelerated under the age of 31 have non-Burakumin in 1954±55 with Supreme Court rulings that partners. This compares with endogamous outlawed all forms of segregation from buses marriages for 80% of the Burakumin over age and lunch-counters to schools, neighborhoods eighty in 1993. Exogamy is a strong indicator of and the workplace. The US Congress passed substantial integration of a minority into the Civil Rights Acts ,1957, 1960, 1964) that, larger society. Since children from such mixed combined with litigation, protests, and media marriages have always been legally classi®ed as support, forced the states to dismantle segre- Burakumin, it is not clear to what degree these gation and other forms of discrimination. mixed couples can be considered fully inte- Southern laws to enforce discriminatory mea- grated. Nevertheless, the Zenkairen, an advo- sures ,Jim Crow laws) were repealed. Lynching cacy organization, established and supported and other violence against black Americans by Japan's Communist Party, concludes that were largely eliminated. Voting rights were national integration of the Burakumin is very guaranteed. Job discrimination was prohibited. advanced and that the ``Buraku mondai'' ,the Federal legislation led to a broad spectrum of Buraku struggle) is already largely past ,Su- preferential ``armative action'' measures, de- Lan Reber, 1999, fn 173). Moreover, many signed to bring quali®ed blacks into higher households within the Burakus ,settlements) status jobs in proportion to their share of the claim not to have any Burakumin members ,pp. total population. ``Busing,'' transportation of 301±330). If identi®cation as a Burakumin is students from segregated schools to others, was increasingly a matter of self-identi®cation, it undertaken to ensure that blacks attended 1468 WORLD DEVELOPMENT

Table 5. US families with incomes below the US poverty black families and these tend to be poor. In line, by race, 1940±98 8%) 1993, 47% of black, single-parent families were Black White in the lowest quintile of the US family income 1940 87 48 distribution ,Darity & Myers, 1998, pp. 48 & 1960 47 13 26). In general, the poorest third of black 1970 30 8 Americans have low school attainment, sub- 1980 29 8 stantial family instability, high unemployment 1995 26 9 and poverty. The lag is most pronounced with 1998 24 8 respect to black men. Since 1970, black female 1999 23.6 7.7 wageworkers employed full-time have been Sources: Thernstrom and Thernstrom ,1997, p. 233); US close to parity with fully employed white fe- Government Statistical Abstract ,1999). males, with a black to white wage ratio of 0.9 to 1. The full-time wage ratio of black to white males has been about 0.75 ,Darity & Myers, racially integrated schools. Economic growth 1998, pp. 43 €). Further, about a million black also made a strong contribution. Beginning women are in college or graduate school, about with WW II, the US economy rapidly ex- twice the number of black men. Black males panded. Labor shortages, and more open labor also have the highest rates on nonemployment. markets, brought massive migration of blacks In 1998, 84% of black males aged 16 through 24 to northern cities to work in manufacturing and in the civilian noninstitutional population were other industries. After the war, the economy either enrolled in school or employed. The continued to grow rapidly. Through the re- corresponding statistic for white males was 96% mainder of the 20th century the overall US ,US Government Statistical Abstract, various unemployment rate never rose above 8%. In issues, Table 656). Imprisonment of black ever increasing numbers blacks increased their males is also high. In 1998, a third of black educational attainment ,a process much facili- males between the age of 16 and 24 was incar- tated by the civil rights movement and the cerated ,Washington Post, 1998, November 30, better quality schools available to many blacks p. A-10. Primary source: American Civil Lib- in the northern states) and their earnings. erties Union, National Prison Project). Table 5 shows the improvement in the The unequal progress to parity within the economic status of the black population that black American community is re¯ected in resulted. Data on school attendance and considerably higher intragroup inequality earned incomes show patterns similar to Table among blacks than the nonblack population. In 5. By 1995, blacks were graduating from high 1992, the Gini coecient for family money-in- school at the same rate as whites. In 1960, 3% comes of whites was 0.38, compared to 0.46 for of blacks over the age of 25 had four or more blacks ,Darity & Myers, 1998, p. 16). More- years of college; compared to 8% of whites. over, as measured by Gini coecients, eco- By 1995, the same statistic had increased to nomic inequality among blacks has also been 13% for blacks, against 24% for whites. Black increasing since the 1960s. There is also evi- men in white-collar jobs increased from 5% of dence of a sizeable proportion of the black total black employment in 1940 to 32% in population in a ``poverty trap.'' Table 6 shows 1990. Over the same period, the share of that the proportion of black families with in- white-collar jobs among employed black comes below $5,000 ,in 1990 dollars) actually women grew from 6% to 59%. Similar in- increased from 8% to 11% from the end of the creases took place in relative incomes by sex. 1960s to 1988±90. But the share going to blacks In 1940, the average wage of black males earning above $50,000 nearly tripled from 6% relative to the white-male average was 41%. to 16%. In summary, following the WW II the By 1995 it had risen to 67%. Mean earnings majority of US blacks experienced substantial for black females went from 36% of white improvements in education and income and females in 1940 to 89% in 1995 ,Thernstrom can be considered as having moved into the & Thernstrom, 1997, pp. 185 €). mainstream of American life. But 25±30% re- Black economic integration is incomplete, mained in poverty. 12 however. In 1995, 42% of Afro-American chil- The black±white gap in cognitive skills is one dren lived in families below the poverty line variable that contributes to durable poverty ,Thernstrom & Thernstrom, 1997, p. 236) in within the black community. By the 1990s, the part because single women head about half of educational gap between white and blacks had LOW-STATUS MINORITIES 1469

Table 6. US real family money incomes of blacks and whites, for 1967±69 and 1988±90 8%)a Family incomes Black, 1967±69 Black, 1988±90 White, 1967±69 White, 1988±90 Below $5000 08 11 03 02 Below $15,000 41 37 17 13 Above $25,000 35 44 64 69 Above $50,000 06 16 19 33 a Derived from Darity and Myers ,1998, pp. 18±20). Original data are US Bureau of the Census, Current Population Reports. The data are expressed in money income in the United States, 1990 as applied by the US Bureau of the Census. ceased to narrow. Table 7, part A, shows the showing that the quality of earnings endow- black±white disparity in school attainment at ments, the result of mainly home, but also the secondary and tertiary levels in 1998. Part B school and peer environments, correlates shows that equal school attainment does not strongly and positively with socioeconomic necessarily imply equal cognitive skills. Whites status. If children from highly disadvantaged acquired more cognitive skill per year of environments are to develop a good endow- schooling than blacks. By age 17, on average, ment for learning, it is necessary to move black students were three to four years behind ``upstream'' to complement the home environ- whites for the basics. These di€erences, as re- ment before dysfunctional earning endowments ¯ected in test scores, also show up early in life; are embedded. e.g., before schooling starts some groups do Operation Head Start ,OHS) takes this tack. better on picture vocabulary and other tests. Started by the federal government during the Many experiments and programs to reach 1960s, it provides preschool education or ed- disadvantaged minorities have built on one or ucation readiness activities to poor children another theory of the causes for the lag in between the ages of three and ®ve, usually for cognitive skills among the most disadvantaged. about two to three hours daily. In addition, Systematic di€erences in the quality of educa- every federally supported head start program tion received by the di€erent groups are obvi- center is to provide health screening, nutrition ously one part of the problem. But even very ,hot lunches and nutrition education) and so- good schools with outstanding teachers may cial services. Most available in the inner cities, not ``work'' very well for children highly dis- OHS requires that parents who apply to enter advantaged by their earnings endowment. their child in the program also actively par- In the United States, early childhood devel- ticipate by accepting counseling and instruc- opment theory that stresses the environmen- tion ,Zigler, Kagan, & Klugman, 1987, tally determined earnings endowment, as Chapter 8). In 1997, there were 794,000 chil- discussed in the theory section of this paper, dren enrolled in federal Head Start programs. has gained strong support across a wide sweep ,Note that most US pre-school educational of social scientists. These see the solution in programs are distinct from the federal head program that concentrate on very young chil- start operations.) dren ,ideally beginning in infancy) and their The impact of federal OHS programs on parents while the child's culture is still plastic earnings endowments has been controversial. and inchoate. Underlying the theory is research A 1985 study by the Department of Health

Table 7. Recent comparisons of education and cognitive skills of blacks and whites, United States A. Educational attainment in 1998 of those 25 years of age or older, as percentage of group High school graduate Four year college graduate Advanced degree Blacks 76.0 14.7 4.4 Whites 83.7 25.0 8.1

B. Average age at which white students performat samelevel as 17 year-old black students, 1994 Reading Mathematics Science Writing 13 14 12 14 Sources: ,A) US Government Statistical Abstract ,1999) derived from Table 265; ,B) Thernstrom and Thernstrom ,1997, p. 355). 1470 WORLD DEVELOPMENT and Human Services concluded that ``in the enrollment increased from a ®fth to over half of long run cognitive and socioemotional test children aged 3±4. It also shows the more rapid scores of former head start students do not growth in black enrollment since 1980. By 1997, remain superior to those of disadvantaged 58% of black children aged 3±4 were enrolled, students who did not attend head-start'' compared to the white rate 53%. Of the total ,Traub, 2000, p. 8). A later study concluded pre-school enrollment ,ages 3 and 4) in 1997, that there were no di€erences between siblings the federal headstart program accounted for who did and did not attend head start ,Currie 17%. Nine-tenths of ®ve-year olds attend pre- & Duncan, 1995). school or kindergarten programs. The meaning of the phase-out ®nding, how- It is not clear how much of the increase in ever, is disputed ,Zigler et al., 1987, p. 274). enrollments is due to increase in the proportion Some argue that the pre-school programs, on of woman working outside the home. In 1970, average, operate far below the feasible level of 43% of US woman were in the labor force; by e€ectiveness, and point to ongoing relatively 1998 this had risen to 60%. Over the same pe- small private programs that appear durably riod the actual number of employed women successful ,Traub, 2000). Two recent studies are more than doubled ,US Government Statistical of this kind: Abstract, 1999, Table 651). Presumably many ÐA 1999 study found that low-income chil- of the programs are dual in function. They dren who received comprehensive, high- provide child-care for working mothers and quality, early educational intervention had may also provide pre-educational activities. So higher scores on cognitive, reading and the degree to which they aim to improve early mathematic tests than a comparison group childhood development is also not clear. of children who did not receive the interven- The Children's Defense Fund provides a de- tion. These e€ects persisted through age 21. ®nitive statistic: Young people who had participated in the early education program were more likely As of 1996, only 36 percent of children between the to attend a four-year college and to delay ages of three and ®ve, but not yet in kindergarten, parenthood ,Campbell et al., 1999). who were living in families earning less than $15,000 ÐA study of the long-term impact of a good were enrolled in public or private prekindergarten ,Blank, Schulman, & Ewen, 1999, Executive sum- early childhood program for low-income 13 children found that after 27 years, each dol- mary, 4). lar invested saved over seven dollars by in- creasing the likelihood that children would be literate, employed and enrolled in post- 4. BLACK CUBANS secondary education, and making them less likely to be school dropouts, dependent on In this section, the four variables of the welfare or arrested for criminal activity or model are used to analyze the mobility experi- delinquency ,Schweinhart & Weikart, 1992). ence of black Cubans since the paradigm shift Concomitant with the increasing acceptance in 1959. There follows measures of the increase of the importance of early childhood develop- in black socioeconomic status that resulted ment for later academic performance, has been from the shift and discussion of the impact of increasing enrollments in many kinds of pre- learning endowments on the mobility of Cuban school educational programs, including initia- blacks. Finally, the section concentrates on the tion of federally supported programs for two impact of Cuba's evolution from a dirigiste to a year olds. Table 8 shows that during 1970±97, more market-oriented economy.

Table 8. US 8pre) school enrollment rate at age 3±4, by race, 1970±97 8% of group aged 3±4) Group 1970 1980 1990 1997 White 36.3 44.9 50.9 Black 38.2 41.6 58.4 Iberian 28.5 29.8 36.6 Total 20.7 36.7 44.4 52.6 Source: US Government Statistical Abstract ,1999, Tables 259 & 260). The original tables are entitled ``school enrollment.'' LOW-STATUS MINORITIES 1471

,a) Social mobility and Cuba's paradigm shift Transportation and housing were provided with substantial subsidies. Basic goods, above Cuba abolished slavery in 1886. The Con- all food, were provided at low, administered stitution of 1901 guaranteed legal equality for prices. all citizens. Nonetheless many kinds of dis- The public e€ort to meet working-class crimination against blacks persisted. The so- needs led to expansion in health services and cialist constitution established after the education. Full-cohort enrollment in elemen- revolution explicitly addresses these. Section tary schools was soon achieved. Between ®ve begins by prohibiting discrimination be- 1958±59 and 1968±69, enrollments in second- cause of race, color, sex or national origin. It ary education tripled. Over the same decade then guarantees all Cuban citizens unlimited enrollment increased 37% in higher education access according to ``merits and abilities'' to ,much of it concentrated in the sciences, all employment opportunities, including to any technology and medicine). 14 The quality of rank in the armed forces and security services, education also increased. In 1996, a consor- and to education. It guarantees access to tium of 13 Latin American countries con- medical care, and to other public services in- ducted an international study of comparative cluding transport. It guarantees nondiscrimi- educational achievement ,Primer Estudio In- nation in access to lodgings, restaurants, ternational Comparativo). Educational recreational areas, etc. Equal pay for equal achievements of all third and fourth grade work is guaranteed as well as the right to ``live pupils were assessed by means of standardized in any sector, zone or area.'' In contrast to the tests. More than 50,000 pupils were tested on experience of Japan and India, the state vig- language and mathematics in 13 Latin Amer- orously implemented a series of measures that ican countries. Cuba's average test scores were eliminated all obvious forms of racial dis- about two standard deviations above the crimination in access to education and em- overall 13-country mean in both reading and ployment by the early 1960s. mathematics! ,Willms & Somers, 1998; Cuba's approach to minority issues is based Willms, 2000). Several factors contribute to on Marx's theory of social class. Short of rev- this outcome: Cuba's longer school year and olution, class is inherited, permanent and ines- school day; low average class size ,in elemen- capable. Exploitation is a consequence of the tary schools it decreased from 35 before the class structure in capitalist and earlier societies. revolution to 21 by 1967); a policy of special In theory, following the elimination of capi- attention to slow students to minimize reten- talism, class exploitation ,including exploita- tion in grade; and university-trained teachers tion of ethnic minorities) and the mores and ,Willms & Somers, 1998). ideologies that sustained it would automatically The fourth independent variable in the mo- disappear. These ideas prevailed in the para- bility model is the pace of economic develop- digm shift after 1959 that aimed to produce a ment as measured by GDP growth. Cuba that was ``classless and raceless.'' After Development leads to structural transforma- the revolution, the authorities insisted that the tion of the economy from traditional rural needs of blacks would be met as part of the orientation to a modern urban economy. In lieu working class, in principle Cuba's only re- of development, the Cuban revolution recast maining class. The government also suppressed social roles toward creating a classless society. discussion of race issues. It provided state-determined meritocratic cri- The state aimed to achieve equality of op- teria in determining the occupational structure. portunity and equality of outcomes by recon- But rather than the buoyant job market that structing the economy according to socialist accompanies rapid growth the revolution led to norms. It took control of the labor market, of an exodus in 1960 of the professional technical access to occupations and of management of and managerial elites that cut o€ the upper part enterprises. Business enterprises of all kinds of the income and status distribution. ,This became state property. There were neither alone greatly reduced income and status in- opportunities for economic entrepreneurship equality.) The exodus was a superior substitute nor wealth accumulation. All adult Cubans for the buoyant job market in that it provided were employed or entitled to a pension. The mobility opportunities far larger than occur in state allocated jobs and also determined a even the most rapidly growing economies. So highly compressed wage structure: the highest elite exodus, the government's dedication to wages ,salaries) were ®ve times the lowest. restructuring and ¯attening the class system, 1472 WORLD DEVELOPMENT

Table 9. Estimates of life expectancy by race, Cuba, Brazil and the United States, 1980sa Country Whites Blacks ,Whites minus blacks) Cuba ,1981) 71 70 1 Brazil ,1980) 66 59 7 United States ,1980) 74 68 6 Sources: Government of Cuba ,1983), Republica de Cuba 16, vol. XVI, 2 ,pp. 105±106); Brazil and the United States: Andrews ,1992, p. 239). Adapted from the table published in De la Fuente ,1995, p. 143). a Blacks include mulattos. and the unprecedented explosion in black ed- ation before 1959 showed similar disparities. ucational attainment provided a unique op- Following the 1959 revolution, the expansion in portunity for black ascension. For a period in preventive health care, and the enormous de- the 1980s, Cuban blacks came close to eco- crease in seasonal unemployment that greatly nomic parity with the majority. improved nutrition in rural Cuba ,where a larger proportion of the black than white ,b) Impact of the paradigm shift on population resided in the 1960s) dramatically socioeconomic status reduced the incidence and mortality of infec- tious disease. 17 Tables 9±11 show that Cuban blacks bene- Table 10 shows parity in educational ®ted more than proportionally from the para- achievement between Cuban blacks and whites digm shift. They are based on data drawn from while the same comparison for Brazil and the the publications of Alejandro de la Fuente who United States shows lower achievement for documents a very large increase in black's so- blacks. The exact impact of post-revolution cioeconomic social status in Cuba during the reforms is uncertain since Table 10 confounds 1980s. 15 The Cuban data are based on the education after the revolution with education 1981 census results for the partition by races. before it. 18 As a percentage of total population, whites Cuba's occupational structure, in the 1980s, were 66, mulattos 22 and blacks 12. In this also suggests that blacks were near to status paper, however, black includes mulatto, unless parity with whites, 19 and much closer than mulattos are explicitly distinguished. This par- blacks in either Brazil or the United States tition ,blacks 34%) is used by de la Fuente and ,Table 11). Their entry into the professional is also used in the following tables. ,Many re- ranks ,22% of black employment) put them at searchers insist that this signi®cantly under- parity with whites. In contrast, the lag at the states the mulatto population. As indicated in professional level is pronounced in Brazil and the attached footnote, the evidence on the issue substantial in the United States. On the other is very unclear. 16) end of the scale for the category manual labor Table 9 shows equal life expectancy for Cu- ,farm and nonfarm), Cuban blacks again were ban blacks and whites by 1981, while the black/ very close to parity with whites, while blacks white disparity in life-expectancy for Brazil and were overrepresented in the United States and the United States was very large. Cuba's situ- Brazil. This movement of blacks in large

Table 10. Maximum educational attainment by race, Brazil, Cuba and the United States, 1980s, for the population aged 25 or older 8%) White blacks Mulattos White ) black Whites ) mulattos Brazil, 1987 High school 13.9 5.3 8.0 8.6 5.9 College 9.2 1.0 2.0 8.2 7.2 Cuba, 1981 High school 9.9 11.2 9.6 )1.3 0.3 College 4.4 3.5 3.2 0.9 1.2 USA, 1987 High school 56.4 52.8 a 3.6 College 20.5 10.7 9.8 Sources: Government of Cuba ,1983), Republica de Cuba 16, vol. XVI ,pp. 67±70); Brazil and the United States: Andrews ,1992, pp. 229±243). This table was originally published in De la Fuente ,1998b, p. 2). a US blacks include mulattos. Cuban ``high school,'' is ``preuniversitaria.'' LOW-STATUS MINORITIES 1473

Table 11. Percentage distribution of occupations, civilian labor force by race: Brazil, Cuba and the United States, 1980a Brazil Cuba U.S.A WBMWBMWB Professional 09 03 04 22 22 23 16 11 Management 17 04 07 13 07 09 28 22 Sales 09 04 07 06 07 07 11 05 Manual, nonfarm 26 28 26 23 29 24 32 37 Services 11 23 13 07 09 09 11 22 Agriculture 23 32 39 18 13 18 03 02 Other 06 07 06 10 12 11 00 00 Sources: Government of Cuba ,1983, 1985, pp. 117±118); Andrews ,1992, pp. 249±250). Derived from De la Fuente ,1998b, table, p. 3). a W: white; B: black; M: mulatto; ``Management'' corresponds to Spanish administracion. numbers into the upper echelons of the occu- for similar minorities elsewhere. Iberian slavery pational structure is probably without prece- left a heritage of cultural endowments and in- dent in Cuba's history. 20 stitutionsÐor in today's language, social capi- Nevertheless, black Cubans accounted for talÐamong the various black populations more than a proportional share of socially de- apparently more conducive to upward mobility viant behavior ,habitual drunkenness, va- than that of non-Iberian slave or caste societ- grancy, drug addiction and prostitution). In ies. 21 During the late 19th century, in the for- 1986, in Havana, 78% of those appearing be- mer Iberian colonies, many blacks were moving fore the courts accused of punishable socially up ``in stages'' from the bottom of the hierarchy deviant behavior were black ,De la Fuente, to the very top ,Waters, 1999, p. 29). Simulta- 1998b, p. 5). They also account for more than a neously, in the United States institutions were proportionate share of those incarcerated. One such that slavery and the caste society that estimate has blacks accounting for about two- followed the end of slavery ensured that blacks thirds of the approximately 100,000 in Cuban mostly remained at the bottom of the class prisons. structure inde®nitely. 22 Historical research supports this thesis of substantial upward mobility of Cuban blacks ,c) Cuba's paradoxical black earnings by the 19th century. During the 16th century endowments cabildos de naciones de afrocubanos ,Afro- Cuban mutual support societies) provided The human capital model explains the pre- assistance to newly enslaved Africans on ar- revolution, high level of poverty of Cuban rival. Urban blacks who spoke the same lan- blacks as partly due to inadequate cultural guage as the new slaves, Yoruba, Mandinga, endowments following centuries of slavery and etc., were permitted to use the societies to discrimination. How were Cuban blacks able promote maintenance of African languages to overcome this to arrive at educational at- and customs. By the 1850s, sociedades de tainments at parity with the majority? Why color arose that emphasized progress toward did Cuba succeed where other countries, in- social equality and that stressed the impor- cluding more industrialized, high-income tance of education and acceptance of Spanish countries such as Japan and the United States, culture. By independence ,1886), some eco- have been less successful? The explanation nomic and social gains resulted in part be- appears to involve three factors: earnings en- cause of the activities of these societies; e.g., dowments may have been less dysfunctional ``all forms of transportation, public places than those that operate in the other three and schools were opened to blacks'' ,Howard, minorities; the impact of the revolution on 1998, p. xv). Klein describes a subset of the earnings endowments was strongly positive; sociedades de color or hermandades ,brother- and Cuban schools may have been very suc- hoods) as cessful in working with slow learners. Each of these is discussed below. a major source for maintaining Afro-American reli- Inadequate earnings endowments may have gious cults [that] cemented class and color friend- been less problematic for black Cubans than ships through ritual ceremonial activity. Though 1474 WORLD DEVELOPMENT

created for racist reasons and supported by a white South overwhelmingly preached to blacks a society bent on maintaining a social order that was doctrine of permanent submission to and ac- more separate than equal, these religious voluntary ceptance of slavery. There would be no organizations became pillars of the community and equality before the after-life ,Myrdal, 1944, gave the free colored a sense of worth and identity, which like their militia units provided them with pp. 859±861). Rather than an ideology of crucial supports in highly racist societies ,1986, eventual emancipation and equality, the pre- p. 232). sumptive biological inferiority of blacks was used to justify an ideology of eternal slavery, The organizations still existed in 1959, when and, then after emancipation, low or even out Castro took power, as the Federacion National caste status well into the twentieth century de Sociedades de Color with about 500 branches ,p. 90). throughout the island. The revolutionary gov- Cuba also has a longer history of both in- ernment eliminated them in the 1960s ,Moore, dependent blacks and of blacks of high social 1988b). status than the United States. By 1841, Cuba From the beginning, the legal status of slaves had 436,000 slaves and 153,000 free ``colored'' was higher in Cuba than in the United States. ,Howard, 1998). By 1861, ``free colored'' ac- One di€erence grew out of Catholic teaching counted for 38% of Cuba's black population. that slaves were human and endowed with In the United States, in 1860, out of a black eternal souls. Hence ``white society incorpo- population of 4.4 million, 11% were free, rated Africans into Christianity as co-equal about half of whom lived in northern free members of a universalistic Church. Among the states. In the Southern slave states, 94% of the Latin American legal codes there was also a 4.2 million blacks were slaves ,Klein, 1986, pp. basic assumption that Africans would eventu- 295±297). In Cuba, many slaves escaped to the ally become freedmen in these same slave so- ``frontier'' particularly in Oriente province and cieties'' ,Klein, 1986, p. 186). Cuba's Code of evolved free, subsistence, agricultural commu- 1842 legalized slave marriages and families. nities. By the end of the 19th century, in large Throughout Latin America, ``most slaves lived parts of Oriente, blacks were among the in family units'' and ``In estates owned by the dominant landowners ,pp. 204, 237). During Church, usually all slaves were legally married'' Cuba's earlier inconclusive 10-year war for ,Klein, 1986, pp. 170 & 168). The code also independence ,1868±78), Perez estimates that instructed the government in Cuba to appoint a 40% of the ocers ,including several in the sindico procurador ,public attorney) to protect highest ranks) of the liberation army were the rights of slaves, including representing black or mulatto ,1983, p. 106). Afro-Cuban slaves in legal actions against their owners. soldiers and ocers also played an important Slaves had the right to testify, including testi- role, in the Second War of Independence mony against their masters. Spain's Slavery ,1898). High rank in the uban militia brought Code ,Codigo negro carolino) promulgated in not only prestige but also the opportunity to 1785, encouraged slave owners to provide turn to military courts for protection against slaves ®elds to grow food crops. Slaves could discriminatory practices experienced by blacks keep part or even all of the proceeds from sale engaged in commercial and other activities in of such crops and some slaves used savings competition with the white majority ,Klein, from such production to buy their freedom or 1986, p. 232). the freedom of their children ,Klein, 1986, p. By the 1890s, Cuba had a large middle class 194). By the mid-19th century, Iberian slaves of blacks and mulattos. After the establish- could own valuable property. Moreover, by the ment of the Cuban Republic in 1898 Cuba's early 18th century full scale ``Crown recogni- governments universally fostered an ideology tion of the [slave's] right of self-purchase'' was of general racial integration and equality ,De `fully accepted in the slave systems of Ibero- la Fuente, 1998a, passim). ``Jim Crow'' laws America'' and a substantial proportion of to enforce legal, political and economic ex- manumissions took the form of self-purchase ploitation of blacks, such as those of southern ,p. 194) 23 states following the US Civil War, never ex- In the US South prior to the 18th century, isted in Cuba ,Zeitlin, 1967, p. 71). Indeed conversion to Christianity was considered in- when the US occupation of Cuba ,1898±1902) compatible with the worldly status of a slave. restricted su€rage by imposing a literacy re- Thereafter missionary work among slaves was quirement on voters, ``a cross-racial move- encouraged. But the churches in the American ment of protest made clear that `the Cuban LOW-STATUS MINORITIES 1475 people' would not tolerate `any violation of market, as implied by the value of the pe- the principle of democracy.'' Instead, the troleum products, food imports, and other Constitutional Convention in 1901 established goods that Cuba imported in return. By 1992 universal ,male) su€rage ,De la Fuente, Cuba's imports had dropped by more than 1998a, p. 47). Similarly, the attempt by the two-thirds. Further indication of the gravity US military governor to create an all white of the crisis was the decrease in Cuba's caloric artillery corps was withdrawn in the face of intake by about 30% from 1989±93 ,Eckstein, protest against segregation by a broad range 1997, passim, & p. 147). During 1989±93, of black and white war veterans ,p. 47). The Cuba also su€ered in¯ation ,the state covered acceptance of interracial marriage in Cuba, at large ®scal de®cits by printing money), con- least outside of the upper classes, also indi- traction and breakdown in enterprise pro- cates a degree of racial integration absent in duction, and widespread unemployment. Since the United States. In 1967, 17 US states still 1993 production has increased substantially had ``miscegenation laws'' that forbade mar- but capital continues to depreciate with in- riage between blacks and whites ,Mason, sucient replacement investment. Moreover, 1970, p. 92). total production, and consumption are still Changes in national ideology brought by the signi®cantly below the peak levels of the late revolution of 1959 also increased the self- 1980s. 24 esteem and probably thereby the earnings The regime weathered the storm by moving endowments of Cuba's black children. The from a strict socialist economy to a looser de jure, and de facto, reversal of the status economy divided between dollar and peso hierarchy to enhance respect for the working sectors, and by permitting a small dose of classes and to condemn the bourgoisie plus the domestic market autonomy primarily via very dramatic increase in mobility opportuni- the re-enfranchised self-employment sector ties ,access to education, availability of full- ,Eckstein, 1997). The economic role of the time employment and access to high status state is diminishing, although in 1997, most jobs) presumably changed belief systems, iden- employment was still in the state sector. Since tity formation, and basic attitudes of blacks in 1993 citizen ownership of foreign exchange is ways that improved black earnings endowment legal and widespread with a well-developed and propensity to learn. exchange market. Dollars are increasingly used A third factor may also help explain the in domestic trade for services provided by parity paradox: the workings of Cuba's edu- the self-employed ,restaurants, construction cational system; Cuba's educational achieve- trades, automobile mechanics, taxis, child ments in the elementary grades imply that care, etc.) Nevetheless, de jure, commerce as a Cuba has been successful in teaching slow specialized function, and not as a byproduct learners. This may have involved close coop- of small-scale production, remains a state eration with parents; a concentration on monopoly, notwithstanding abundant experi- remedial programs in the schools; and possibly ence, worldwide, showing the enormous com- emphasis on pre-school education. Most tod- parative advantage of the private sector in dlers and older pre-school children attend commerce. Moreover, private employers that state-directed day-care programs. Moreover, meet payrolls still are illegal in Cuba's do- during the 1960s, many rural children were mestic economy. Rather than an automomous moved to the cities ,presumably away from market for labor, government controls access their parents) to attend school ,Restrepo, to jobs. It can still do this because all domestic 1970, p. 68). business enterprises larger than the family undertakings that rely on self-employment re- main in state hands. So although some indi- ,d) Cuba's changing economy and social vidual and family initiative in production is mobility tolerated, insofar as feasible it is heavily taxed. ,Cuba's nouveaux riches, however, are hiring With the Communist collapse in 1989, domestic servants, drivers, gardeners, etc.) The Cuba lost its main ideological support. The government also prohibits foreign ®rms from large Soviet subsidy that had sustained the directly paying their Cuban employees, but Cuban economy ended in 1991. The Eastern pays them itself, with funds received from the Bloc had bought Cuban exports at prices foreign ®rms, in an e€ort to minimize wage three to ®ve times above those of the world disparities ,Plasencia, 2000). 1476 WORLD DEVELOPMENT

In 1999, the state still attempted to provide had not been nationalized. Average income of citizens certain basic goods at low peso prices: farmers supplying such markets has also in- education, food staples, housing, transporta- creased many times. Finally for thousands of tion, and medical care. 25 But it also had in- Cuban women, prostitution with foreign tour- troduced or increased prices for many goods, ists generates individual incomes many times including electricity, meals at the work-place higher than earnings in the ocial peso econ- and sports events. Further, bene®ciaries of omy. higher education and pensions are now ex- Zimbalist ,2000) concludes that Cuba's hard- pected to cover a larger part of the costs of won norms of equity and equality, norms that bene®ts. Today most consumption goods are legitimized the revolution and the regime for freely available only in dollar-stores. many Cubans, have been undermined: Foreign exchange earnings are somewhat more diversi®ed than in the past. Well, over Cuba has become a class society, de®ned by access half of Cuba's foreign exchange earnings are to hard currency, either through work, politics, or covered by remittances from Cubans living relatives abroad. According to one study based on abroad ,about $700 million annually) plus data from the Cuban government's Instituto Nacional tourism ,1.6 million visitors in 1999) ,Plasen- de Investigacion Economica, the share of income cia, 2000). But foreign investment in mining, going to the top 5 percent rose from 10 percent in 1986 to 31 percent in 1995... material rewards in export agriculture, and manufacturing is re- Cuba today do not correspond in any meaningful ducing dependence on tourism as the largest way with one's economic contribution. Rather those foreign exchange earner. Moreover, local connected to the dollar economy enjoy much higher ®rms, notably in pharmaceuticals, but others living standards. The prevailing incentives encourage as well, are increasingly moving into export- doctors to become taxi drivers, scientists and engi- ing. There are also the beginnings of export- neers to become shoemakers and restaurant opera- oriented vertical integration: local industries tors, teachers and professors to leave education for the tourism sector, and government ocials to produce goods for Cuba's tourist industry rent-seek in the dollar economy. Further the return including textiles, furniture, air-conditioning to human capital has been so undermined that even installations, and food ,Jatar-Hausmann, Cuba's best students are dropping out of school. 1999, p. 126). According to one report, the number of matriculated The Cuban economy is also becoming less college students fell by 50 percent between 1989 and equal. By 1997, legal self-employment in Cuba 1996 ,p. 15). accounted for about 10% of Cuba's labor force of four million ,Jatar-Hausmann, 1999, p. 92). De la Fuente ,1998b) made a preliminary Incomes of the self-employed are highly vari- assessment of the impact of recent changes on able, but are many times higher than those of the incomes of black Cubans. His work sug- families primarily dependent on peso incomes, gests substantial deterioration in the income such as public servants and public enterprise position of Cuba's blacks relative to the ma- employees. In 1997, one sample of 234 self- jority since 1989 ,pp. 6±9). In proportion to employed had average incomes 18 times higher population share, about half as many blacks than their previous earnings as state employees have emigrated as whites. Moreover, black ,Jatar-Hausmann, 1999, p. 102). Further, in the Cubans have substantially lower incomes in sample, earnings and level of education were the United States than white Cubans. So US uncorrelated. Those with the highest education remittances can be expected to bene®t Cuban and who had the highest incomes in Cuba be- whites proportionately more than Cuban fore the 1990s were prohibited from working as blacks. Blacks very rarely owned commercial self-employed in their professions ,law, ac- farms and their principal agricultural role, counting, medicine, etc.) at least through 1997 that of harvesting sugar-cane, became mech- and as a result had incomes far below those of anized by the 1970s. The resurgence of farm the self-employed. There are other sources of incomes, with the re-opening of private farm economic inequality. Remittances bene®t a markets in 1994, has primarily bene®ted minority of the population. Cuba's buoyant largely self-employed cooperative and private agricultural markets ,supplied directly by landowners. Urban blacks live to a greater farmers without intermediaries) have been lib- degree than whites in undesirable neighbor- eralized. This supply response has been pri- hoods where there is little demand for the marily from cooperatives recently converted family restaurants ,paladares) that have from state farms, and small private farms that proven pro®table for many whites. Few blacks LOW-STATUS MINORITIES 1477 are employed in tourism, partly because of conditions in the next two or three decades. presumed prejudice against blacks among Although this is also true of Japan, the situa- tourists. Finally, De la Fuente takes issue with tion there is less clear. The current high rate of the belief that black and dark-mulatto women intermarriage of Burakumin with other Japa- disproportionately supply Cuba's widespread nese suggests that they may largely disappear as prostitution, which is a big draw in the tourist a distinct minority within the next century, al- business. He cites anthropological analysis though some Burakumin may remain stigama- showing that a very large proportion of so- tized and caught in poverty inde®nitely. In called black prostitutes are mestizas or light- general, the Cuban solution is unlikely to apply skinned mulattos who would be considered in countries with similar low-status, ranked, white by most Cubans were they in any other and long exploited minorities because of the occupation ,pp. 6±9). enormous diculty in achieving favorable Two remaining income sources need con- ``parameters'' for the four basic variables ,rapid sideration: earnings of black workers in for- growth, reduced discrimination, improved eign enterprises and their earnings from urban earning endowments, and increased access to self-employment. The state chooses the work- education). ers hired by foreign ®rms. The number of Although Cuba can hardly serve as a tem- blacks employed in such enterprises, whether plate for minority integration, its experience or not they receive supplementary payments, does provide a valuable perspective on the and how total wages compare with incomes causal factors at work. The Cuban experience elsewhere are questions for which information per se needs to be analyzed to support work for is not widely available. Whether foreign ®rms developing a better theory. This need is press- discriminate against blacks is another issue. It ing because Cuba is rapidly changing. Al- is plausible to believe that blacks would be though the experience has received some underrepresented in self-employment because attention, few data have been developed. More of their history of restrictive low-skill em- information and analysis that build on the hy- ployment. In 1952, ``the workers in the sugar potheses developed in the paper are needed. industry... comprised 23 percent of the [entire Several themes especially warrant attention. Cuban] labor force... three-quarters of whom First, Cuba quickly brought a hard-core, low- worked no more than ®ve months a years'' status minority to educational parity with the ,Zeitlin, 1967, p. 50). Most cane-cutters were majority. Armed with its newly acquired hu- black. The children and grandchildren of this man capital, the minority was able to brie¯y group can only have had limited experience of acquire socioeconomic status close to parity urban work in a private enterprise industrial with the majority. Low-status involuntary mi- economy ,63% of the current population of norities have usually been checked in their Cuba was born after 1959). Presumably, this progress to parity. The paper provides hy- history puts a large proportion of black Cu- potheses on why these checks did not operate bans at a comparative disadvantage compared or were overcome in Cuba. Survey research and to the majority in seeking self-employment. analysis of Cuba's approach to education, Pulling all of these factors together suggests child-care and occupational structure are that Cuba's blacks are once again losing out needed to test the hypotheses. Second, more relative to the majority. attention is needed to calibrating and assessing the di€erences between the black and the mu- ,e) Replication and research latto experience. Third, the Cuban economy is evolving away from socialism. The current de- Could Cuba's success in integrating the black velopment of limited private enterprise and minority be repeated elsewhere? The Cuban market autonomy appears to be accompanied experience appears to be the result of an im- by deterioration of the average black socio- probable conjuncture: the exodus of most of economic position. Analysis is needed to de- the Cuban bourgeoisie and the resulting occu- termine whether this is the case and, if so, why. pational openings; the extremely rapid expan- Whether Cuba's blacks will maintain their re- sion in education; the draconian suppression of cently won status in a mixed economy is a discrimination; and possibly, a sweeping and question that merits detailed attention not least very positive change in the identity and earning because of its implications for future work on endowments of black Cubans. Neither India the progress to parity of low-status, ranked nor the United States are likely to have such minorities. 1478 WORLD DEVELOPMENT

NOTES

1. From 10% to 20% of the world's population belongs one with zero movement out of the bottom quantile. In to ``several thousand di€erent minority groups and the United States, aggregate ,up and down) social subgroups'' de®ned as ``any self-identi®ed community mobility, as measured by the sum of movements of that is...unable to take decisions over its destiny, and adults from one income quintile to another has recently often experiencing high levels of illiteracy, under-educa- been about 25% to 30% per year, increasing to 60% in a tion and overt or covert discrimination'' ,Minority decade ,Sawhill, 2000, p. 25). Rights Group International, 1997, p. viii). This research applies to this highly disadvantaged, low-status subset of minority groups. 5. Becker does not spell out the content of cultural endowments in his work.

2. Ethnic systems ,ethnic includes race) are unranked where ethnic groups within a single country do not 6. The correlation coecients between human capital stand in an unambiguous social, political and economic acquired and income are reduced because many indi- ``pecking order.'' Horowitz ,1985, pp. 21±24) de®nes all viduals do not choose to maximize pecuniary income but ethnic groups as ranked or unranked, depending on rather psychic returns. whether there is coincidence or noncoincidence of socioeconomic class with de®ning characteristics of the groups making up the system. It is convenient to 7. Nevertheless, Ogbu rejects explaining social mobil- extend this de®nition to include castes. Such ranked ity in terms of a group's autonomous culture and ,hierarchical) systems occur where class and ethnic/ stresses structural explanations such as the impact on caste groups coincide. In unranked systems the group involuntary minorities of the dysfunctional behavioral are cross-class. Some countries have both ranked and incentives induced by the current social environment. unranked groups. Modern Malaysia involves an un- Some writers emphasize that the two approaches are ranked system of Chinese, Malays and Indians. Caste complementary ,Waters, 1999, p. 99 and passim). and slave states provide examples of ranked ethnic Birdsall emphasizes classic economic deductive reason- groups. Ranked groups interact with each other in a ing: parental demand for human capital for their division of labor to form a single class system. children will be reduced insofar as ethnic discrimination Unranked groups may form societies with an entire or poor quality of public schools reduce bene®ts of class structure within each group. Ranked groups of educational investment in children ,Birdsall, 2001, low status usually desire to increase their status within p. 16). their society. Unranked groups usually want more political autonomy or even independence. The kinds of violence and other tactics used by ethnic groups, and 8. In the United States, in 1998, total black employ- the corresponding government responses, depend in ment was 14.592 million, while self-employment of part on whether the groups are ranked or unranked. blacks was 618,000 or 4.2% of total black employment. The worldwide ascendancy of egalitarian ideology has In 1998, aggregate self-employment in the United States made ranked systems illegitimate, but their legacies was 7.8% of total employment ,Harrington & Yago, ,majority perjudice against the minority, discriminating 1999, p. 5; US Government Statistical Abstract, 1999, institutions) are hard to eliminate. Frequently, national Tables 666 & 675). economic development undermines ethnically ranked systems by undermining traditional culture ,particularly 9. This and the following sections on Japan's Burak- belief systems including myths and ideologies) and umin and black Americans are highly condensed ver- institutions supporting them. sions of similar sections in the basic study paper ,Meerman, forthcoming). Additional references con- 3. Myrdal emphasizes ``the fallacy of the general cerning these three groups are in this paper. All theory that law cannot change custom.'' See Myrdal references concerning Cuba are included in the section ,1944, 3rd ed. p. 20, 1031 €.). on Cuban references.

4. In any size distribution of income, groups in a 10. The government's national survey published in poverty trap experience a lower rate of movement to 1993 show the cohort entry into senior high school as higher quantiles than majority members within the 92% for the Burakumin living in registered Buraku and lowest quantile. The absolute poverty trap would be 96% for the total population ,2000). LOW-STATUS MINORITIES 1479

11. Discussions with Burakumin leaders and analysts overwhelmingly the case for cane-cutters ,most of whom in Japan, March, 2000. were black) who accounted for about a ®fth of the labor force in the early 1950s. Malnutrition was extensive 12. In 1999, using the Census Bureau de®nition, 23.6% during low-wage periods. Infectious diseases ,cholera, of the noninstitutional population of black persons were typhoid, malaria, yellow fever) cause higher death rates in poverty ,US Government Statistical Abstract, 1999, among the poorly nourished than among the well fed. p. 486). Incarcerated blacks were also in poverty, and This situation implies large di€erences in life expectancy were between 2% and 3% of the black population in of blacks and whites. 1999. 18. Table 9 would be improved by excluding the part 13. Helen Blank and her co-authors derive this of the 1981 population that had completed its schooling statistic from the US Bureau of the Census publication or nonschooling before the revolution in 1959, that is Current Population Reports, ``School Enrollment, Social just about everyone over the age of 42 in 1981. and Economic Characteristics of Student,'' October 1996. 19. For any occupational category, the index of black occupational status is de®ned as the percentage of 14. These data from Bowles ,1971). The original source blacks employed in the occupation divided by the is Cuba, Junta Central de Plani®cacion, Compendio percentage of whites employed in the occupation. Black Estadistico de Cuba 1968 ,pp. 30±35). status parity for the category is achieved when the ratio equals one. 15. Comparison involving the two prior decades is impossible since the Cuban government did not collect 20. Table 11 indicates that Cuban blacks lost out in data by race during the 1960s and 1970s. one category: management. This was recognized as a problem at the third party congress in 1986. In general, 16. Applying US practice, which does not distinguish blacks have been under represented in the highest between black and mulatto, might imply a black councils of state: the upper echelons of the Communist majority in Cuba today. Some researchers reach this party, the council of ministers, and the party central conclusion ,Moore, 1988b, p. 358 €). In the censuses of committee ,Buro Politico). Currently, however, there 1945, 1953 and, most recently, 1981 those counted were are six ``Afro-Cubans in the Buro Politico, compared to asked to state if they were white, black or mulatto. In zero forty years ago.'' Blacks are also heavily repre- all three censuses a majority identi®ed themselves as sented in the ocer corps of the Cuban armed forces. white. But Moore asserts that in both 1953 and 1981, Military ocers manage six ministries: sugar, com- the census enumerators classi®ed many blacks into the merce, ®sheries, transport, interior and the armed white race ,Moore, 1988a,b, pp. 358 €, p. 177). Other forces ,Aspen Institute, 2000, pp. 3±4). A 1987 survey observers stress that race is a social construct wherein of directors ,dirigentes) of state establishments at the class and pigment are confounded: ``Few Cubans are municipal, provincial and national level found that either `pure' white or black. De®nitions of `colour' are whites accounted for 72.5% of all directors, mulattos as much the result of social criteria as of somatic for 15.4% and blacks 12%. This correponded to adult classi®cation'' ,Minority Rights Group International, population shares of 66.1% for whites, 21.9% for 1997, p. 82). In contrast, De la Fuente ®nds that the mulattos, and 12.0% for blacks ,De la Fuente, 1998c, 1981 census data on population by race are consistent pp. 29±31). with time series on births, deaths and fertility by race ,blacks, mulattos and whites) back to 1841 ,De la 21. De la Fuente discusses the literature on this topic Fuente, 1995). Note that the mulatto population as it concerns Cuba. Some writers insist, ``in pre- possibly misclassi®ed as white is unlikely to have lower revolutionary Cuba institutional racism did not exist, socioeconomic status than the 34% ocially classi®ed as compared in particular to the United States, and that as mulatto or black, given the traditional positive the long term trend [in Cuba] was toward genuine correlation between lightness of skin and status. Rede- integration of blacks and mulattos in all aspects of ®ning light-skin mulattos as black may reduce socio- economic, social and political life.'' Others assert, ``Cuba economic status disparity. It will most probably not had been essentially a racist country where opportunities increase it. for upward mobility were seriously limited in the case of blacks.'' De la Fuente notes that the entire discussion 17. Before 1959, part of the rural population had full- has a ``very precarious empirical basis'' ,De la Fuente, time employment less than six months per year. This was 1998c, p. 23). 1480 WORLD DEVELOPMENT

22. Historians have studied and discussed in some purchase price while the owner insisted on the current detail the broader question of the ``virulence'' of Anglo- ,higher) price ,Klein, 1986, p. 228). Caribbean/US slavery relative to Iberian slavery begin- ning with Tannenbaum's ,1947) book comparing US 24. For the biennium, 1997±98, total imports of goods and Brazilian slavery. Theirs is strong support for the and services were at least a third lower than for any two- position that ``no other society in the Western Hemi- year period during 1985±90 ,Comision Economica, sphere in which black people were introduced in 2000, Tables A-1 & A-2). bondage equals the record of racism of the United States'' ,Degler, 1987, p. 6). 25. In October 1999, The Economist weekly stated that household payments for ocial food rations, apartment 23. Self-purchase schemes were often in installments rent and utilities were still very low, typically accounting with usually a half or a third down. The purchase price for about a third of a monthly salary of 300 pesos or $15 was frequently decided by lawsuit, where the slave at the market exchange rate ,The Economist, 1999, usually argued that the just price was the original October 23, p. 37).

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