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

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

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Elites in Latin America. by Seymour Martin Lipset; Aldo SolariReview by: John N. PlankThe Hispanic American Historical Review, Vol. 48, No. 2 (May, 1968), pp. 261-263Published by: Duke University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2510756 .

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BOOK REVIEWS I GENERAL 261for the student the legal system's impact on the majority of itspeople.In the secondhalf,to be sure,he exploresone of thesevital prob-lems, agrarian reform, nd it is obviousthat this is wherehis heartand skill lie. But it is not enoughto examineonlyagrarian reform,no matterhow thoroughly.On the otherhand, he is closer to theproblems nd anxietiesof themiddle class in bothLatin Americaandthe U.S. than thosewho concernthemselveswithinternational radeand taxation and forming oreign ubsidiaries.Too literal translations re objectionable, nd the atrocitiescom-mitted n some of these texts are incredible. Where available, theoldest standard translationsof codes have been used; where not,abominations ppear, such as thisone: "Regardless of theimperativeof moral duty,we see daily that the parties, n their desire to carryout their juridical affairs,do not disdain unsuspectedmethodstopersuade othersto contract, or example,attributing irtuesand ef-fectiveness o the productsoftheir ndustry hatdo not correspond oreality" (p. 49). The bookwas printedfor the University f Cali-fornia in Venezuela, and, while marred by occasional typographicalerrors, t represents fineeffortn inter-American ooperation.Golden Gate College of Law DAVID S. STERNElites in Latin America. Edited by SEYMOUR MARTIN LPSET and

ALDO SOLARI.New York, 1967. Oxford University ress. Tables.Notes. Indices. Pp. xii, 531. Cloth. $9.50. Paper. $2.95.Here are fifteen ndependent essays bound into a single volume,not because theymakeup an integratedwhole,but because all of them,in one fashionor another,have something o do withLatin American"elites." Some of the contributions re extraordinarily ood; mostare useful; only one is distressingly oor.An outgrowth f a Montevideoseminarof 1965 on "Elites andDevelopment n Latin America," the collectionhas been divided bythe editors ntofourcategories. In thefirst f these, Economic De-velopment nd theBusinessClasses, SeymourMartinLipset contrib-utes a discursive, ynthetic eviewof the literatureon values, educa-tion,and entrepreneurships that iteraturemaybear upon theLatin

Americansituation. This sectionalso contains a peculiarly tentativebut provocative heoretical ssayon approachesto thestudy of LatinAmerica's urban middle classes by the Chilean Luis Ratinoff nda thoughtfulf unexciting xaminationof the industrialelite by theBrazilian Fernando Cardoso.


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262 HAHR I MAYThe second ection, Functional Elites," seems o meboththemostvaluable and the most disappointing. Its value derives from three

stunningly uccessfulessays: those by Robert Scott, Ivan Vallier,and Frank Bonilla. Scott is superblyequipped to handle his theme,the challengeposed to political elites by the requirements f politicalmodernization,nd he has written realisticbut sympatheticccount,bold,responsible, nd delightfully ree from argon.Ivan Vallier has preparedwhat muststand as the finest ssay inthe book. Despite a ponderoustitle, "Religious Elites: Differentia-tions and Developments n Roman Catholicism,"his presentation sgracefuland persuasive. More important, e is a confidentmasterofnot onlythe contemporaryatin American scenebut also the endur-ing historicaldimension.Disciplined and skilled n thetechniquesofsocial science,adhering to the standards of responsible cholarship,he retainsa profound ppreciationforreligion hat informs isworkand gives it significancend power.Frank Bonilla, writing on cultural elites,has produced anothercharacteristically erceptiveand compassionatepiece. Like his pre-viouswork, hisis markedby carefulresearch, ophisticated nalysis,and evidenceofextraordinarympathywiththe subjectsofhis study.But Bonilla is not at all a sentimentalist: As long as [the intel-lectual] remainspoliticallyradical and sociallyconservative, e gainsno true everageon the shape of his own ife, hat ofhis class,or ofhissociety." (p. 251).The otheressays in this section nclude one on military litesbyIrvingLouis Horowitz,one on the labor eliteby HenryLandsberger,and one on contemporaryeasant movementsy thePeruvianAnibalQuijano Obregon. Little need be said of themhere exceptthat they(and, forthatmatter, heother hreeessaysnoted mmediatelybove)cannotbe usefullycomparedwithone another, fact thatmakesthebook less valuable than it mightotherwisehave been. For example,Horowitz' diffused, ccasionally bombastic, nd highlycharged ap-proach to his material simplydoes not comportwithLandsberger'squite narrow hesis on thebasis of surveyresearchdata, namely, hatlabor in Latin America is less revolutionary han most observershave concluded. There is muchto be said forpermissive ditorswhowill allow all authors n a symposiumo ask their wnquestions, ollowtheirown interests,nd establish heirown priorities.But the conse-quenceof suchan editorialpolicy s likely obe,as it is in thisvolume,a collectionof discreteand conceptually ncompatible ontributions.Education is the subject of the third and fourth ections. Four


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BOOK REVIEWS I GENERAL 263essayshave to do with theuniversity nd eliteformation.Two of thefour are byBrazilians,Darcy Ribeiroand GlaucioAry Dillon Soares.Ribeiro,former ectorof theUniversity f Brasilia, makesan impas-sionedplea for university eformn Latin Americaon groundsthatare alreadythoroughly amiliar o most ofus. Dillon Soares presentsthe results of some survey research among university tudents inColombiaand Puerto Rico designedto test"Intellectual Identity ndPolitical Ideology." Readers will not be startledby his conclusion"that as Latin Americanuniversitiesbecomemoreprofessionalized,as studentsand educated menbecome nvolved n scientificnd pro-fessionalroles-involvementswhichshouldbe associatedwithgreaterindustrializationnd socialmodernization-theproportion f studentsand graduates who support diffuseradical politics concernedwithglobal societal changes, rather than specificreforms,will probablydecline." (p. 449). In this section also KennethWalker of the Uni-versityof Toronto contributes workmanlike hapteron "PoliticalSocialization n Universities, and Luis Scherz-Gareia f Chilewriteson "Relations Between Public and Private Universities."The Uruguayan Aldo Solari and the Brazilian Aparecida JolyGouveia are responsiblefor the concludingsegmenton secondaryschools. Both of the essayshere are worthour seriousattention, otonlybecauseoftheir ntrinsicmerits whichare substantial),but alsobecause the role of the secondaryschools in elite formationhas re-ceivedfar too littlesystematicnvestigation.

Brookings nstitution JOHN N. PLANKSlavery n theAmericas. A Comparative tudy of Virginiaand Cuba.By HERBERT S. KLEIN. Chicago,1967. University fChicagoPress.Tables. Notes. Index. Pp. xi, 270. $6.95.

Klein says that comparativehistorianshave not gonebeyond theuse of legal materialsto the "social and economicdynamicsof theNew World slave systems o testthe assumptions nd conclusions hathave been proposed" (p. viii). This he does in examiningNorthand Spanish Americanprototypes, ointingup the uniquenessof theNorthAmerican system nd evaluating the influences f each in de-termining he role and status of the Negro in bondage and afteremancipation.This workmightbetterbe called parallel studies than a compara-tive study. It is divided into five parts-the beginnings f the twocolonies, he egal structure,he Church nd the slave, slavery nd the

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

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