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UNITED NATI ONS GENERAL ECONOMIC j|g|| Ä AND fi^w EKGLISH SOCIA^ ^ ^ . Ä L, COUNCI^ . , ^ , L . ^ISi^ r ORIGINAL: SPANISH miMtMMiiMtMimiiiMiHMHmMiiiiiiiiiii»iimniHn»miiiMiiiiiiit»mn^ ECONOMIC COM ISS ION FOR LATIN AMERICA Tenth session Mar del Plata, Argentina, May 1963 SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF LATIN AMERICA IN THE POST-WAR PERIOD IL/CI, 12/660 Page iii TABIE 0F CONTENTS Page FOREWORD ........ 1 Chapter I. The urbanization process U 1. Trends in urban- growth U 2. Digression-on some ecological features of the Latin American countries ...» 16 Chapter II. The rural situation 21 1. Social stagnation in rural areas . * . 21 2, Social assumptions underlying the agricultural enterprise 23 (a) Rural stratification systems 23 (b) Rural poverty - 28 (c) Marginality of the rural population • ••• 30 (d) Primary system of social relations 45 Chapter HI. The urban situation 59 1. The industrialization process and the urban population explosion 59 2. The adjustment mechanisms of the traditional city 61 (a) Survival of traditional production and business structures 62 (b) Expansion of the population employed in the services sector 65 (c) Maintenance of traditional family patterns 67 (d) Emergence of a marginal population 69 3» Latent and manifest aspects of urban change ...... 75 Chapter IV. The new urban groups: the middle classes 81 I* General problems relating to the middle classes .. 81 1. Nature of modern societies viexved from this . standpoint * 82 2. The paradox of the situation 84 /II. LATIN E/CN,12/660 Page iv ' Page II. Latin America's two m^.ior "middle class1' problems 8? Ill, The image of the function of the middle classes in economic development ......... 90 1. Bourgeois society as a whole'.,.. ,.... 90 2# The typological schema 91 (â) Will to economic - creation 91 (b) Will to independence vis-à-vis the State 94 . .. (c). .VJi.ll to. social reform 94 • 3» Application of the schema to the Latin American situation ...... 95 IV • . The faceless middle classes ' 100 • 1. The historical constellation of the decisive years (1917-60) 100 2# Political aspiration patterns 102 3# Economic aspiration patterns . , 107 4« Social aspiration patterns . Ill V. The middle classes at the present .juncture -.v.... U6 * 1. The need for .revitalisation ........ ... -LIS 2. The middle sectors in the new circumstances « 119 3» Internal tensions in the task of the new middle, .classes . » 122 Chapter V* ; . Evolution and integration of the urban loiter strata . 125 . 1. General conditions 125 2, Origins of Latin American Trade-Unionism .... 127 3« Labourism in politics .... » 128 " ' 4. ' The paradox of - Latin, American, Trade-Unionism. 130 5. Special features of the formation of workings class consciousness in Latin America ........ 132 '6. ' The functions of the- "Industrial trade union" in the. so.cial history of Latin America 134 /7* Organized B/CN,12/660 Page t Page 7. Organized trade unionism and marginal urban strata 136 (a) Unionized popular sectors 137 (b) Non-unionized popular sectors ..... 137 (c) Marginal popular sectors ....... 138 8. Incorporation of the urban popular sectors into national societies 139 9. Prospects ... 141 Chapter VI. The new ideologies and political action ....... 143 1. Social history as a branch of knowledge: significance of its absence .. *. 143 2# The importance of the twenties 144 3. The problem of ideologies and development ........ 145 4. Balance of the situation existing by I960 147 5. Ideological orientations in a period of bewilderment .. 149 (a) Nationalism 150 (b) Populism .. 153 (c) Modern traditionalism .. 156 (d) The seeds of revolution 163 6. Need for greater rationality in development ideologies - 168 /FOREWORD E/CN.12/660 Page 1 FOREWORD The economic development of Latin America during the last few decades has been at once a positive and an unsatisfactory achievement: positive, inasmuch as growth can at no time be said to have ceased altogether; yet none the less unsatisfactory by reason of its relatively slow rate, its erratic tempo, the disparities it exhibits from one Latin American country to another, and the disquieting emergence of a trend towards stagnation in recent years, marked at least in some parts of the region« The endeavour to account for this unsatisfactory situation - setting aside its political repercussions and its calls for immediate action - constitutes in itself a stimulating exercise in intellectual analysis* The problem is not an easy one to solve, since a partial view of it is out of the question. À historical phenomenon of such far-reaching significance must be explored from every angle« And its manifestations extend from the shifting k;i L°i(\f)S<:ope of the international constellation, by way of the most strictly ec:v;o.mic issues - those relating to investment and productivity, for example -, to the seemingly remote sphere of the region's time-honoured ideas, feelings and customs» The economists were perhaps the first to tackle the problem, and they offer plenty of explanations, varying according to the instrument of analysis adopted.. Discussion of these would be out of place here] but it must be pointed out that, however sound they may be, they are necessarily partial, that is, confined within the limits set by their special angle of vision. In the following pages an attempt is made to supplement them with the no less partial contribution represented by the sociological interpretation. In this instance, the element of limitation or incompleteness is still greater. Apart from the fact that this too is merely^one among other lines of approach, thè aim is not to envisage Latin American society in all its present - and, necessarily, past - complexity, but to examine a narrow cross-section of it. A factor, and perhaps a decisive one, in the ihadequacy of Latin Americans economic development seems to be the bottleneck created by the fact that 50 per cent of the active population generates 20 per, cent of the gross product; in a word, the agricultural productivity bottleneck in what is still a predominantly agricultural region. /Would it B/CN»12/660 Page 2 Would it not be possible for sociological analysis to concentrate on this stark fact, with a view to extracting the full essence of its social significance? Some sort of interpretation, however unpretentious, would emerge as a result. And such an interpretation is bound to take the form of a structural analysis, comparing the urban and rural environments. The social relationships between town and country constitute, at a first glance, a limited horizon. On the contrary, however,successive enlargements of this horizon might in the event reveal if not the key, at least one of the keys to an understanding of the problem mooted» Perhaps the economic bottleneck aforesaid might prove .to be merely one. aspect of a social and cultural bottleneck of more comprehensive significance: a bottleneck deriving from a distortion of the over-all process of modernization * of rationalisation, if the reader prefers - which has been generated everywhere in Latin America by the objective conditions of the regionTs social structure* It is a temptation to save time by irraiediate reference to the theory of structural dualism in vogue today* Tho allusion is neither incorrect nor inaccurate. But perhaps it would be advisable to shelve all such designations for the moment and simply study the facts« It should be recalled from the outset, however, that, as in any sociological interpretation of a macroscopic nature, nothing whatever in the way of conclusive proof can be offered« The only claim that can be made is that the interpretation is fairly plausible, and all that can be hoped is that the series of hypotheses on which it i's fourried may later provide a basis for iiiore specific and detailed research. But in default of an outline interpretation, whether entirely valid or not, no light at all can be shed on the : situation under consideration, and any attempt, to influence it becomes meaningless. A^ain, the dimensions of the situation in question - and therefore of its interpretation necessitate the simplifying devices for which the theoretical term is "types" or "models",, and which: in any.case, far from portraying reality as a whole, merely trace the prevailing patterns that are indispensable for- an understanding of those:aspects of the- existing state of.affairs which deviate or diverge from. them. Latin America is complex in the extreme, and its - countries are at widely, differing stages of their social, economic and cultural history* At the same -time, however, the region is sufficiently homogeneous /for certain E/CM.12/660 Page 3 for certain structural "tj^pes" - the most decisive or fundamental - to be applicable within fairly wide limits. If these types or patterns are to be clearly defined, it will not always be possible, with all due respect to strict methodological procedure, to avoid over-emphasizing certain features. The most striking aspect of the social structure of the majority of the Latin American countries is the rapidity of their urbanization process - a seemingly hopeful circumstance, in apparent contradiction with the agricultural bottleneck referred to above. Is it not precisely the big city that is, figuratively speaking, the vehicle of modernity? A rapid urbanization process should imply the presence of conditions similar to those found elsewhere* In other words, there should presumably be that continuum between the urban and rural sectors which is typical of the great industrial countries of our time. In Latin America, however, no such continuum exists, but a complete rupture: no smooth, straightforward transmission line - whoreby distances are naturally abridged but a ragged series of abrupt switr.hovers, jumps and hiatuses. May there not be a flaw in the prevailing theory with respect to the urbanization process? How is it possible to account for a steady expansion of the larger towns alongside a stationary agricultural productivity? The data leave no room for doubt as to whether this is an accurate description of the phenomenon.