Latin American Society

Tessa Cubitt

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN:
  9781138179806
• eBook ISBN:
  9781317893202
• Subtopic: Geography
• Index: Geography

First published in 1995. This book serves as an introduction to Latin American society. As it covers a very broad topic, the aim is to acquaint the reader with some of the major issues and debates concerning Latin American society, offering references which can be used to follow up points in more detail if desired.

Chapter

1

Development

The year 1985, the time of writing this book, marked a high point in relations between the poor and the rich countries of the world, whereas 1994, the year of this update, has marked a low. Why? In 1985 the consciousness of the horrors of starvation and poverty were aroused universally by the tireless efforts of an Irish pop singer. It was the music of the bands and the involvement of international stars that made people aware of the destitution that some fellow citizens of the world experienced. In 1994 image after image of this destitution still continues to flow from our television screens.

What 1984–85 was to Sahel Africa, 1992–93 has been for the Horn of Africa. Disasters in Somalia, Mozambique and Ethiopia have witnessed suffering and starvation on a massive scale as in Upper Volta and Chad in previous years. Futile emergency aid continues to be the only possible measure introduced to save people’s lives. Hope for a decade of development in the 1990s and constructive involvement of the United Nations in the world’s problems has dissipated in a deepening world recession. Many lives and hopes have been shattered in the face of continuing external debt, faltering economic growth, increasing unemployment, growing civil strife, rising ethnic tensions, threats to the environment and the persistence of abject poverty. The UN has seemingly proved ineffective in combating these human causes of the starvation of the people of many Third World regions. In 1990 over 100 million people were effected by famine (Human Development Report (HDR) 1992: 14).

At the same time, in most industrialised parts of the world, there are increasing numbers of people who suffer from the opposite condition – an excess of food and drink. Obesity and an increasing incidence of disease connected with an over-indulgence of rich and fatty foods and alcohol have led to a boom in the slimming business.

While one-half of the world’s population is desperately short of calories, others are searching for the low-calorie version of foodstuffs and drinks. Supermarket shelves abound with slimming aids, and health farms attend to those for whom the problem has reached a more advanced stage. The affluence of the industrialised world and its resulting comfortable life-style has also led to greater concern for fitness in general, so that jogging has become an accepted part of contemporary life in Europe and the USA.

Are these stark contrasts inevitable, or is it possible to improve the living standards of the poor countries of the world? If the latter is the case, and the potential to reduce their problems exists, why has this not already happened? This book aims to examine these issues in an attempt to understand how and why they have come about and what solutions are available. The book, therefore, concentrates on the notion of development which, although often used very differently by various writers, is usually seen as the means to improved living conditions. Development issues are discussed in general, though the book focuses on Latin America as the particular unit of study.

WHAT IS DEVELOPMENT?

‘Development never will be, and never can be, defined to universal satisfaction. It refers, broadly speaking, to desirable social and economic progress, and people will always have different views about what is desirable’ (Brandt 1980: 48). This comment from the Brandt Report sums up the essence of the controversy in the notion of development. It must, by definition, mean progress, but this implies a value judgement, and what constitutes an improvement varies considerably according to views and ideology. Having defined development as ‘a process of improvement with respect to a set of values’ Colman and Nixon come to the conclusion that ‘the rate or the relative level of a country’s development are normative concepts whose definition and measurement depend upon the value judgements of the analysts involved’ (Colman and Nixon 1986: 2). Colman and Nixon also point out what is widely supported by social scientists today, that ‘value judgements are inescapable elements of factual study in the social sciences’ (Colman and Nixon 1986: 2). This problem should by no means be a stumbling block to further analysis, but should serve to keep us alert to ideological frameworks within which judgements are made. Moreover, despite different viewpoints, there is often considerable agreement over the major goals of development. The objectives for development identified by Seers (in Baster 1972), for instance, would probably meet with widespread acceptance. These are:

1. family incomes should be sufficient to provide food, shelter, clothing and footwear at subsistence level;

2. jobs should be available to all family heads;

3. education and literacy rates should be raised;

4. the people should be given the opportunity to participate in government;

5. national independence is an important aim for each country.

These objectives cover economic factors necessary for survival, cultural factors relating to the satisfaction of non-material needs, and political factors allowing for the greater involvement of people in the running of their own affairs.

Attempts have been made to escape from an ideological standpoint in defining this area. Norman Long, in his Introduction to the sociology of rural development, refers to the focus of his book in the following words: ‘my basic subject matter is sociological work that deals with the process by which rural populations of the Third World are drawn into the wider national and international economy and with the accompanying social transformation and local level responses’ (Long 1977: 4). Here, attention is centred on processes and social changes of a particular nature, that is, involving of people in the wider society without any references as to whether or not this can be judged ‘better’ for them.

Social and economic progress refers to a very wide arena, the component parts of which may not all be progressing at the same rate. Can the changes that have been taking place in Brazil in the last few decades be called development? Transnational, using advanced technology, operate in Sao Paulo, producing cars for the wealthy; modern buildings tower above the cities, and the luxury goods on sale are a testimony to an affluence that exists in some sectors of society. In the same country, however, live people0 who have some of the most simple forms of technology to be found in the world. The Amazonian Indians, many of them living in hunting-gathering bands, exist today in the same way as they have done for centuries. Since some of these tribes have had no contact at all with outsiders, their existence is only known to us through aerial pictures showing their dwellings in clearings in the jungle. Tribes such as the Nambikwara live on fruit, honey, roots, spiders, grasshoppers, snakes and lizards, which the women collect, and game if the men are successful with their hunting (Brain 1972). The implements needed for this subsistence economy are minimal. How does one, then, categorise a country harbouring such extremes in terms of development? Development for whom? is a critical question that arises. Whether or not it is possible to bring about improvements for all is highly debated but, for most people, the concept of development means better standards of living for at least a majority of people, if not the mass of society.

Implicit in the term is an economic element and, indeed many would argue that economic changes are necessary to bring about other desired aims. It is important, however, to distinguish at this early stage between economic growth, which usually refers to some quantifiable index such as increase in per capita income, and economic development, which involves some kind of structural and organisational transformation of society. Thus, development does not just mean a little more of everything, it also includes a rather deeper change in societal arrangements.

In order to examine further all these issues in the Third World, it is worth taking a fairly general definition, which does imply a value-judgement but bears in mind the implications of this. Brookfield says that ‘the popular trend is to define development in terms of progress towards a complex of welfare goals, such as reduction of poverty and unemployment and diminution of inequality’ (Brookfield 1975: xi). How far do the changes that have been taking place in the Third World bring the countries concerned closer to these goals?

The whole essence of progress is change and, in the case of the Third World, the main changes that have been taking place are linked to the growth of modern society, in most cases based on the development of capitalism, though in a very small number of countries, notably China, Cuba and North Vietnam, revolution has brought about a move to a socialist society. Therefore, for the vast majority of the Third World’s population, it is the growth of...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• List of figures and tables
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 Development
• Chapter 2 Theories of development
• Chapter 3 ‘Sustainable development’
• Chapter 4 Values and institutions
• Chapter 5 Social relations
• Chapter 6 Changing rural society
• Chapter 7 Urbanisation
• Chapter 8 Social classes and social movements
• Chapter 9 The state
• Chapter 10 Conclusion
• Appendix
• Glossary
• Bibliography
• Subject index
• Place name index