elites in latin america by seymour martin lipset; aldo solari - alexander

7/29/2019 Elites in Latin America by Seymour Martin Lipset; Aldo Solari - Alexander

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Elites in Latin America by Seymour Martin Lipset; Aldo SolariReview by: Robert J. AlexanderEconomic Development and Cultural Change, Vol. 17, No. 1 (Oct., 1968), pp. 127-132Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1152597 .

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Reviewsfor so long. In the section on Syria, the tremendousimpact of the Egyptianoccupation on the regional economy is representedby a short quotationfrom the CommercialStatistics of John MacGregor, who got most of hismaterial from his friendships with Richard Wood, Colonel Churchill,John Bowring, and Consul-General Farren, all of whom left accounts(unpublished too) superior to MacGregor's. In the Ottoman Empiresection, the stress is almost exclusively on agricultureand the land, as seenthrough a variety of essays. These essays are largely by modern writersand are excellent, too, but something like David Urquhart's famouspolemic, Turkish Oil and Russian Tallow,would have served to remind usof the tremendous commercial importance of the Anatolian ports andcoastlands from Trebizond to Iskenderunin his day. Correspondingly,inplace of the bald statement of the Anglo-TurkishCommercial Conventionof 1838, one would have preferredthe parliamentary report issued someyears later on the operation of that Convention.These are petty dissatisfactions with a very good book and not majorcriticisms.The editor's footnotes occasionally become confused with thoseof his selected authors but can generallybe puzzled out (try, for example,pp. 42-43). At some points they are incomplete or otherwiseunhelpful(tryp. 208). A map or two would have been useful, particularlywith regardto railways. The only typographical error seems to be the reference onpage 47 to Vambery.

SeymourMartin Lipsetand Aldo Solari, eds., Elites in Latin America. NewYork: Oxford UniversityPress, 1967. 531pp. $9.50.Robert J. AlexanderRutgers UniversityLike most collections of papers and essays, the present book is of unevenquality. Some parts of the volume are full of interesting insights and in-formation about contemporaryLatin America; others are of too schematica nature and too little connected with facts, or are too careless with thefacts they presentto be of any great use. In what follows, we shall concen-trate principally upon the formertype of contribution.As a whole, this book is the result of a Seminar on Elites and Develop-ment in Latin America, held in Montevideo in June 1965, under the jointsponsorship of the University of Montevideo, the Institute of InternationalStudies of the University of California at Berkeley, and the Congress forCultural Freedom. Most of the chapters were papers delivered at thatconference, although others were written especially for the volume. Thechief architects of the conference and the book are the American sociol-ogist Seymour Martin Lipset and his Uruguayan counterpart, Aldo

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EconomicDevelopmentand CulturalChangeSolari, Director of the Institute of Social Science at the University ofMontevideo.

There are fifteen contributors to this volume, of whom eight are LatinAmericans and the rest from North America. The Latin Americancontri-butors include four Brazilians, two Chileans, and one scholar each fromPeru and Uruguay. Those from the North are Frank Bonilla of MIT,Irving Louis Horowitz of Washington University in St. Louis, HenryLandsbergerof Cornell, Seymour Martin Lipset now of Harvard, RobertA. Scott of the University of Illinois, Ivan Vallierof Berkeley,and KennethWalker of the University of Toronto. All but Scott, a political scientist,are sociologists.Lipset presents the first essay, which seeks to place the emergenceofnew elites in Latin America in a broader world context. He is particularlyconcerned with the value orientation of the emerging middle-class elitesand its impact on the process of economic development. Using Weberianand Parsonian concepts as a background for his discussion, Lipset thenbrings to bear the writings of a number of Latin American and outsidestudents of the area to develop his argument.Lipset starts with the observation that "The relative failure of LatinAmerican countries to develop on a scale comparable to those of NorthAmerica or Australasia has been seen as, in some part, a consequence ofvariations in value systems dominating these two areas." To specify thesedifferences he relies on Talcott Parsons' "pattern-variables,"which henotes indicate "basic orientations toward human action," and Parsons'categorization of the Latin American value system as belonging to the"particularistic-ascriptivesystem," which "tends to be focused aroundkinship and local community, and to de-emphasizethe need for powerfuland legitimate largercenters of authority such as the state."

On the basis of the findings of various scholars who have looked atthe problem, Lipsetarguesthatthe middleclass, includingthe industrialists,of the various Latin Americancountries is still largely loyal to a system ofvalues which was more appropriateto a ruralsociety dominatedby a land-owning elite. This is one of the reasons, he argues,why a very crucial rolein development has been played by "deviant" elements, particularly im-migrants. These immigrant groups, even when they come from countrieswhich arethemselvesunderdeveloped,have no fixedplace in the traditionalLatin American society and so are more prone to look for and take ad-vantage of and even create for themselves opportunities outside of thattraditional system.Lipset is also concerned with the process of changing the traditionalLatin American value system. In this connection, he notes the impact ofthe Mexican Revolution in cracking not only the institutional frameworkbut the value system of the prerevolutionarysociety. Finally, he suggeststhe important role in this regard which the expansion and reform of theeducational system can have in bringing about similar changes without128


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Reviewsundergoing the kind of cataclysmic experience which was the lot ofMexico.

Fernando Cardoso, the sociologist from the University of Sao Paulo,who has made invaluable surveys of the industrialist class in his owncountry, contributes a chapter on the characteristics of the industrialelite in several of the economically more advanced Latin American coun-tries. He presents the results of surveys of the origins, characteristics,andattitudes of these groups. On balance, they bear out Lipset's contention ofthe still-powerful influence of traditional values even on this relativelydynamicgroup in Latin American society. However, they also bear out theidea that as Latin American firms have grown larger, and the industrialsystem better entrenched, the educational background, the methods ofaccess to management,and even the attitudes of the manufacturersbecomemore similar than before to those of the advanced industrial countries.In the light of the depth and very insightful nature of Cardoso's publica-tions about Brazil, this chapteris somewhat thin.Robert Scott is concerned with what he conceives to be the failure ofthe political elite to adapt the political system to the needs of rapid eco-nomic and social change. He argues particularlythat the political partieshave failed generallyin Latin America. Only in Mexico, Scott says, "doesthe party system act as an effective aggregatingmechanism to force com-promise and cooperation among the elites which represent divergentinterests." Generally, multi-interest parties have not evolved, whileparties representing specific group interests have not been able to workout compromises which allow the system to work in a more or less stableand normal way.Scott arguesthat the strongpresidencywhich is characteristicof LatinAmerica may in some instances overcome this inadequacy of the parties,while the same inadequacy tends to reinforce the strength of the presi-dents. But he is not overly optimistic about this possibility, either.In the face of this lack of ability of the formal structure of governmentto absorb adequately the shocks of change, Scott argues that there hasevolved a complicated system of private governments-of interest groupswhich have the right to exercise a kind of control over their members andeven over third partieswhich otherwisemight be exercisedby the politicalgovernment. This is an interestingconcept deserving of further investiga-tion, which might well indicate that the political traditions of these coun-tries are as much responsible for the power of these private governmentsas is the "crisisof elites" which is Scott's theme.In general, this reviewer is inclined to feel that Scott has overstatedthe case for the inadequacy of the Latin American political systems toabsorb the changes which are under way in the area. The political partiesare less inept than he gives them credit for; the acceptance of the need forfundamental change is more widely recognized and acquiesced in thanScott believes.

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EconomicDevelopmentand CulturalChangeOne of the most interestingand instructivechaptersin this book is thatof Ivan Vallier on the area's religious elites. He sums up his thesis thus:

My argument n broadtermsgives Catholicsa strategicplace in LatinAmericansocial dynamics.In this I shall make it clearthat this role isnot merelyone of reactionary onservatism.However, nsteadof viewingthe liberalor progressive ector of Catholicismas a homogeneous,un-differentiatedmovement, inesof unmistakabledivisionare isolatedanddescribed.In addition,the sourcesof thesevarious elite movementsareonly meaningfuland explainable n relation to the Catholic Church'spresent attempts to rescue itself from a threateningcrisis situation.Finally,I maintain hat the pivotalroleof Catholicismn LatinAmericacannot help but give the new Catholic elites a formativeinfluenceonsecularchangein the widersociety.

After a short historical survey of the traditionally conservative roleof the Church in Latin America and the relative autonomy which theChurch in the various countries had historically had from the Vatican,Vallier suggests that three new types of leaders are emergingwithin LatinAmerican Catholicism. The first of these is the "Papist" group, who, heargues, "focus on buildinga Church that relies on its own authorityand itsown resourcesto achieve influence and visibility,"as well as "fullobedienceto and full supervisionby Church authorities."The second new group consists of the "pastors," who Vallier says"see their main task as that of building up strong, worship-centeredcon-gregations." They concentrate their efforts among the faithful, seeking todraw them closer to the parish and to involve them in its affairs.They areparticularly concerned with sacramental and similar changes within theChurch.

The third new leadership group in the Latin American Church, ac-cording to Vallier, and the one from which he expects most, are the"pluralists."He notes that they insist on the position of Catholicism as aminority faith in Latin America, and "their major objective is to developpolicies and programsthat will allow the Churchto assist the institutional-ization of social justice on every front that providesthe opportunity.Thus,the center of attention is moved away from traditional concerns withpolitical power, from hierarchyand clericalism,and from worship and thesacraments to grass-rootsethical action in the world."On the basis of this differentiation of the Catholic elites, Vallier looksat the future of the Church'srole in Latin American society and politicallife. His essay is one of the most thoughtful and important discussions ofthe role of the Churchin Latin America to appearfor a long time.Henry Landsberger's chapter seeks to answer the question, "TheLabor Elite: Is It Revolutionary?" His conclusion is that it is not. Hemusters a considerable amount of evidence, in terms of attitude surveysof union leaders and historical incidents, to buttresshis case. Although he130


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Reviewsuses several things which the present reviewer has written as a take-offpoint to develop what he conceives to be a rebuttal, I find that I cannotdisagree basically with his conclusions. His arguments are summed upthus:

Labor'sgoals are economicnot ideological,but it seeksto use politicalmeans to reach these goals, because the decision-makingprocess hasbeendesigned o lure abor intopolitics-often deliberatelyo. However,manysectorsof laborseemto have morepoliticalthan economicpower,partlybecauseof Latin America'sstagnanteconomicdevelopmentandpartlybecauseof labor'srapid politicalinvolvement, hroughthe ballotbox or by violence,between 1920 and 1960.

Landsbergerand I agree,I believe, that organizedlabor stands alignedon the side of change in Latin America, but on the side of democratic andmore or less orderly change, rather than guerrillawar and violence. Thisis due in large part to the fact that, partly as a result of the efforts of thelabor movement itself, the urban workers have considerable to lose fromthe violent approach. Landsberger's discussion of these matters is animportant contribution to understandingLatin American organized laborand its role in the economic life, society, and politics of the area.Another contribution of first-rate importance is Darcy Ribeiro'schapter on "Universities and Social Development." Ribeiro is a leadingBrazilianeducator, first president of the University of Brasilia, who sincehis exile in 1964 has been teaching at the University of Montevideo. Hisstress, after some historical background, is on the need for modernizationof the Latin American university. Among other points which he makes inthis connection are the need for changes in admission systems, ending ofthe catedraticosystem by which a professorholding a "chair"can and doesblock promotion for all of those below him, and greateremphasis on thesciences and social sciences in the curriculum.

Although politically, Ribeiro was on the extreme left during hisrather short political career in Brazil, some of his suggestions for reformare not particularly extremist. For instance, he advocates establishmentof meaningful entrance examinations for the univerities and introductionof a tuition payment, together with an extensive scholarship program. Healso favors the reorganization of Latin American universities on the linesof the departments familiar in the United States institutions of higherlearning.Most of the suggestions which Darcy Ribeiro makes for moderniza-tion of the Latin American university this reviewer would agree with.However, he cannot agreewith Ribeiro'sendorsementof "co-government"of the universitiesby the students, something to which Ribeiro himself wasapparentlyconvertedonly aftergoing into exile in Uruguay.As MinisterofEducation under PresidentJoao Goulart, he had broken a student strikecalled for the purpose of obtaining co-government.131


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EconomicDevelopmentand CulturalChangeProfessor Luis Scherz-Garcia,of the Catholic Universityof Santiago,follows Darcy Ribeiro'schapterwith one on the relationshipsof publicand

privateuniversitiesin the area. He has some interestinginformation on theextent and nature of the private schools now existing, and the burden ofhis argument is that there should be much closer cooperation between thetwo types of universities. This is made particularly urgent by the verylimited resources available to higher education of all kinds. He has someinteresting suggestions concerning how such cooperation mightbe broughtabout.The chapter by Aldo Solari is concerned with the Latin Americansecondary schools, a relativelyneglectedaspect of the educational system.It is particularly interesting because of its discussion of the relationshipsbetween academic and vocational education on the secondary level. Hehas considerable information on the extent of vocational education andsome useful generalizations on the relationship between the level ofindustrializationand the nature of the vocational trainingschemesadoptedin a particularcountry.This is an importantbook, contributingto the understandingof someof the noneconomic aspects of the process of economic development inLatin America. One can learn a good deal of valuable information fromit; there are interestingand perceptiveinterpretationsof what is going on;and parts of this volume should become important reference sources forother scholars.

Robert W. Clower, George Dalton, Mitchell Harwitz, and A. A. Walters,GrowthwithoutDevelopment:An Economic Survey of Liberia. Evanston,Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 1966.Pp. xv + 385.Gwendolen M. CarterNorthwesternUniversityThe title of this detailed and critical study of Liberia is provocative. Moreimportant, it provides in a nutshell the basic thesis of the book: that in thedecade from 1951 to 1961, during which the Liberian economy grew ata rate almost unparalleled anywhereelse in the world (outstripped,in fact,only by Japan), this growth did not lead to development, that is, to struc-tural economic change absorbing larger numbers of Liberians in newproductiveactivities andwith more advancedtrainingand skills.Onthe con-trary, the returnsfrom Liberia's economic growth, insofar as they accruedto Liberians, went almost exclusively to the small ruling minority ofAmerico-Liberians,thus reinforcingtheirpolitical power and the economicand social divisions between them and the country's tribal majority.Why this happened, and what are the basic political, social, andeconomic changes in Liberia that this team of economists recommend so132

elites in latin america by seymour martin lipset; aldo solari - alexander

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