Inequality in Latin America Essay

Models for post-revolutionary Latin American government are born of the complex economic and social realities of 17th and 18th century Europe. From the momentum of the Enlightenment came major political rebellions of the elite class against entrenched national monarchies and systems of power. Within this time period of elitist revolt and intensive political restructuring, the fundamental basis for both liberal and conservative ideology was driven deep into Latin American soil. However, as neither ideology sought to fulfill or even recognize the needs or rights of mestizo people under government rule, the initial liberal doctrine pervading Latin American nations perpetuated

The greed for gold and the race for El Dorado were the main inducements of the Spaniards who, at the peril of their lives, crossed the ocean in unfit vessels in a mad pursuit after the gold and all other precious property of the Indians” (Peace 479). The royal rulers of Spain made it a rule that nothing would jeopardize their ability to rob the land from the native people of Latin America. The missionary process, “had to be encouraged, but the missionaries could not be permitted to dominate the colony at the cost of royal rule” (Gibson 76). The European governments established missionaries to cleanse their minds of any guilt aroused by the slaughtering of innocent men, women, and children. When European “ships arrived in the 16th century to colonize the land and exploit its natural resources, they killed indigenous people and brought black slaves from Africa. Millions of indigenous people were slain and their cultures completely destroyed by the process of colonization” (Ribero). The overall devastations caused by the Christianization of the native inhabitants created a blend of cultures within the indigenous civilizations which gradually isolated old native ways into a small population of oppressed people. The Christianized people became a symbol of loyalty to the European powers and were left alone simply on their religious status. This long term mission of total religious replacement caused very strong and advanced

Over the course of the past half-millennium, the 33 countries that now comprise Latin America and the Caribbean have gone through drastic change. Since the discovery of the New World in 1492, each country has gone through some level of colonization by a European power and transition to its current state. During this period the regions have seen political, social, religious and economic transformations of various degrees.

The rise of the middle class had a potent impact on Latin America. The middle class consisted of “a high percentage of the intellectuals, authors, teachers, and journalists” and also they had the most influential voice in the late 19th century (Charlip & Burns, 177). One of the most important points about the middle class was that they were not only the true nationalists in Latin America but also they regarded the United States as their model, thus they tried to learn something beneficial from the United Sates for their nation’s prosperity and citizens. For example, the middle class was impressed by the high North American literacy rate and also considered the high literacy rate “seemed to provide the proper preparation for an industrial society”

In comparison with the class readings and the book I selected to read, both materials discussed how not all areas of Latin America are heavily populated and have money to improve with. The book In the Head of a Saint

and the Structure of Social Provision in Chile and Mexico. Ann Arbor, MI: U of

Historic legacies of social and economic inequality In recent years, social and economic inequality in Latin America has dropped in comparing to the rest of developing nations. However, the region remains one of the most unequally in the world. If we want to understand the key drivers for inequality, it is important to visit the consequence of European colonization in the region. As Europeans conquered in Latin America and settled in area, their presence had great impact on the native people who were living in the land for thousand of years.

The issue that would be addressed and discussed in this research paper is the impact of poverty rates and income inequality on economic growth in Brazil. Poverty is defined as “a human condition characterized by the sustained or chronic deprivation of the resources, capabilities, choices, security and power necessary for the enjoyment of an adequate standard of living and other civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights”. This definition is based on the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights [1]. Economic growth is the increase in the production and consumption of goods and services within a country, while income inequality is how unevenly distributed personal earnings are in a country. The relationships

Poverty, or the inability to afford basic human needs, is an issue that is spread worldwide. There are people everywhere who cannot afford shelter, food, healthcare, or education. It seems easy enough to ignore the bum asking for change on the street, but it becomes near impossible in regions where whole families are begging on the street. This rings true in Latin America and it is extremely frustrating to see social inequality this extreme. This essay will examine how much poverty exists in Latin America, why the amount of poverty is so disproportionate and what can possibly be done to alleviate the amount of poverty in these countries.

Having an economy dependent on the world market is highly susceptible to the success and failure of international markets. For example, during the Frei administration the prices for copper began to decline. The price drop was detrimental to Chile because the economy “depended on copper exports for 80% of its foreign exchange earnings” (Hellinger 2011, 186). Many modernization theorists suggest that traditions, inherited status and natural inequalities are to blame for Chile’s lack of development (Hellinger 2011, 122). By focusing on “social structures that resemble feudalism in Europe”, modernization theorist overlooks the deeper problem of the effects of colonialism (Hellinger 2011, 120). During the Spanish colonization, Chile was charged with producing cheap primary goods such as “agricultural products, minerals, and other raw materials” to be exported to the Spain (Hellinger 2011, 136). Once Spain transformed the raw materials to finished goods, these products are then sold back to Chile at a higher cost. The cycle has remained intact until this day. “This arrangement bled Latin America of wealth that could have been the basis for

Following a decade of high development thanks to the commodity super cycle, Latin America has lost its glow: economic advancement is near zero, equality gains have slowed down, and the political landscape is changing. Although a few nations have started down the path of structural change required to raise efficiency and competitiveness, it is clear that the recent slowdown of economic progress has made the reform process more difficult. When growth slows or stalls, societies tend to shy away from processes of continual, systematic reform, despite the promise of positive results in the forthcoming time frame. At times of economic instability, the short term rules and attention to the medium/long term fades. Preventing this from happening is the main challenge facing Latin America today.

They explain that during the last half of the nineteenth century, an outward-oriented period of growth started in Latin America, based on the export of raw materials to emerging industrial nations. Unlike the ruling classes in other parts of the world, the so-called oligarchic order in Latin America concentrated the resulting large surplus in the hands of small traditional elites who imitated the consumption patterns of European upper classes, rather than seeking to enhance their countries' education, technology and production infrastructure (Arocena and Senker 2003). In the late 1950s and early 1960s, industrialization failed to reach a point at which it was self-sustaining. While there were plants and factories in Latin America that could produce consumer goods, only a comparatively small wealthy segment of the population could afford to purchase these consumer goods as opposed to the large segment of the United States and West Europe populations. This restricted expansion of the internal market for manufactured consumer durables, and the expansion of manufacturing employment. Accordingly this did little or nothing to reduce inequality. Industrialization produced by inward investment and by internal consumption of expensive products could only be sustained in Latin America in a period when external funding was easy to obtain. This came to an end with the debt crisis of the 1980s. Latin

In this research paper, we will be looking at the large poverty confronting Panama’s indigenous areas. First, I will be defining the different Panamanian indigenous groups. Then, we will see why the situation has become like it is in the past years, and why the poverty rates had kept increasing in rural and indigenous areas while the economy had been skyrocketing in the urban parts of Panama. Why has Panama become one of the first country in terms of inequality between its citizens? Will the Panamanian government pay more attention the indigenous population, and help them develop in great accordance with the rest of the population?

The purpose of this paper is to critically analyze a socio-economic issue that is affecting the Latin America Countries. Throughout the years Latin America Countries have been known to be poor and underdeveloped which stems from a low level of education. A recent report by Fernando Reimers (2017) stated that “more Latin Americans are living in poverty now than what was previously reported despite the economic growth.” Latin America remains at the bottom of the rank although education and human capital are often identified as important element of growth. The subject of poverty is directly linked to the poor that are still illiterate or hardly literate. Therefore, the negative and positive impact of low education and poverty on the Latin American Society as well as comparing and contrasting the issue to the Jamaica society will be discussed. Further, recommendations as to how to address these issues will be perused.

Before beginning the discussion, it is necessary to explain why many of the examples presented in this paper are from Latin American countries—in particular Chile and Argentina. To provide some basic background, those two countries exhibit an interesting dichotomy of