Abstract
This article proposes a framework for the analysis of social
classes in Latin America and presents evidence on the composition of
the class structure in the region and its evolution during the last two
decades, corresponding to the years of implementation of a new economic
model in most countries. The paper is an update of an earlier article
on the same topic published in this journal at the end of the period of
import substitution industrialization. Relative to that earlier period,
the present era registers a visible increase in income inequality, a
persistent concentration of wealth in the top decile of the population,
a rapid expansion of the class of micro-entrepreneurs, and a stagnation
or increase of the informal proletariat. The contraction of public
sector employment and the stagnation of formal sector labor demand
in most countries have led to a series of adaptive solutions by the
middle and lower classes. The rise of informal self-employment and
micro-entrepreneurialism throughout the region can be interpreted as
a direct result of the new adjustment policies. We explore other, less
orthodox adaptive strategies, including the rise of violent crime in the
cities and migration abroad by an increasingly diversified cross-section
of the population. The impact that changes in the class structure have
had on party politics and other forms of popular political mobilization
in Latin American countries is discussed.
