Social Inequality In Latin America

The neocolonial period from 1790-1890 was a turning point in latin American history; Latin America experienced rapid changes in industrialization, transportation, and technological aspects that benefited the few and privileged yet came to the expense of a diverse and culturally vibrant native population. New neocolonial principles rooted in the philosophy of progress created a latin society that condoned the exploitation of many native populations. Due to a combination of European influence and latin American political corruption, many native populations suffered politically, economically, and culturally.

Brazil has been a culture to fall victim to Westernization. Racial whitening, natively known as “blanqueamiento”, is the idea, promulgated by Whites and accepted by Black and Mixed-race people, that being white is a valued characteristic; Brazilian government made it their goal to westernize Brazil and eradicate colored people. To be whiter was to have a better chance of getting a job, earning more money, being treated with respect, being cherished or romanticized by those around you; To be whiter, in other words, was to have an easier and better life. These notions pushed by westerners while claiming Brazilian land have bled into all aspects of Brazilian culture including

After the Wars of Independence in Latin America, liberals and conservatives engaged in a continent-wide struggle for control of the nascent states. Brazil, due to its monarchy, evaded the liberal-conservative civil wars entirely, yet most other Latin American nations experienced intense military conflict between the factions for control. Liberals won in most of Latin America and created governments inspired by the liberal-leanings of their independence leaders. By the 1830s, after economic collapse and social turmoil, conservatives took over until the 1860s and 1870s, when liberals returned to power. Yet, due to the nature of the liberal takeover and the policies such governments enacted, 19th-century Latin American liberals established a constitutional foundation for future authoritarian governments, sabotaged industry and economic stability by opening trade, and expanded class and racial inequality. Thus, while liberalism enriched and benefited the elite, it failed and harmed the lower classes: the peasants and the poor.

By definition the Dominican Republic is a Caribbean Hispaniola Island that is shared with Haiti to the West. The Dominican Republic today is a major tourist destination and has become a major source of sugar, coffee, and other exports. But the Dominican Republic had to suffer a lot in order to prevail the way they did, undergoing being enslaved by the Spaniards while on the other side of the island the Haitians were enslaved by the french hence the obvious difference in languages and cultures. The main difference is that the Dominican Republic lost their racial identity and until the present day are unaware of their true racial identity. Slavery affects every country and person differently but in the Dominican Republic, slavery took away the nation’s identity.

Many people cannot fully recognize what the world has to offer, until they take a look through someone else’s perspective. As a matter of fact, this common phrase has become an increasingly common issue in today’s society. Most individuals simply stick to the “comfort zone” of the communities they belong in, without ever feeling the need to branch-out to explore the countless other cultures that make up the world. Often times, this behavior tends to lead to stereotyping and the misrepresentation of cultures unfamiliar to us. The Brazilian culture is no exception to this everyday social norm. After exploring the hidden truths behind the culture, I have discovered this: The cultural identity of the Brazilian community is far more diverse and dynamic than what is portrayed in society and the media.

Neoliberalism has occupied Latin America for over three decades. The neoliberalism eliminates tariffs and government subsidies of national industry and implementing national policies that favor the needs of business and investment. In this essay, I am going to discuss the issues that faced Latin America because of neoliberalism and how it brought harm to Latin America.

Racial disparity in Brazil is best explained in Abdias Nascimento article, Quilombismo: An Afro-Brazilian Political Alternative. “I believe that the Black and mulatto the Brazilian of colour must have a racial counter-ideology and a counter position in socioeconomic terms. The Brazilian of colour must strive simultaneously for a double change: socioeconomic change in the country, and change in race and colour relations.” In 1968, through these words, Afro-Brazilian scholar, artist, and politician Abdias Nascimento called attention to the potentially divergent but essentially related nature of the two main objectives of Afro-Brazilian activism: first, to effect concrete change in the distribution of social and economic power in Brazil, and second,

In the struggle for Latin America Independence, the peninsulares who were born in Spain and had major power of Latin America. The Creoles who were born in Latin America, but with the ancestry of the Peninsulares, had lower power than the Peninsulares.Why did the Creoles, which were dense populated and most were officers at the time lead the revolution? The Creoles lead the revolution because the Creoles had a massive economic issue as well as a fight for political power against the Peninsulares and the issues of the social classes.

The United States has always displayed a rich diverse culture, even before it gained its independence from Great Britain in 1776. European colonists were not the first groups of people to have lived in the America, as many indigenous groups have occupied this land hundreds of years before colonization. These indigenous groups played a major role in the makeup of Latin America and Caribbean, which is what made the Americas so diverse during the time of colonization. Academics Juan Gonzales and Paul Ortiz contribute to a current school of thought that discusses the role Latin and Caribbean Americans had in the development and liberation within the United Sates and across America. Many academics in this school of thought draw upon events like

Social hierarchy plays an instrumental role in determining what foods people ate and preferred throughout Latin America. Often times certain foods were seen as superior to others as were certain people. One's status in society could oftentimes be associated with the foods they ate and position along the food distribution ladder.

Many solutions, such as social investment, early childhood education, job training for young adults are avenues for addressing the shrinking middle class. Many of these ideas have been around since the 1990s, and most know that they will work, however, no one wants to pay the cost of such social investments. Thus, this is a fine example of how one topic, income inequality, can be addressed from two different angles, that of economist and that of sociologists, and what contributes to the inequality can be supported based on what is actually measured. In this specific comparison, due to the differences in disciplines addressing the same issue, the variables measured are completely different and as a result, yield very different results.

Race relations within the revolutionary Caribbean complicated the Twentieth Century, leaving questions of freedom and nationalism open to interpretation. In A Nation for All, Alejandro De La Fuente examines various meanings of race within post-Spanish Cuba, Batista’s Cuba, and socialist Cuba, and how racial tensions aligned with revolutionary ideas. Rather than simply adopting a chronological organization of events, Alejandro De La Fuente gains the reader’s attention by utilizing a thematic scheme. The idea of an inequality, masked by revolutionary, egalitarian rhetoric, remains central to each thematic division. De La Fuente’s work serves to undermine the elitist pretense of equality in Twentieth Century Cuba and expose the long-term effects

The world is made up of a huge population of species. Humans are categorized as one specie. However, humans are diverse and come in a variety of different forms. They pertain to a culture and societies who share many elements in common. Although, people are born with an identity, power and society create a separation between humans.

We as humans tend to categorize everything, it can be a good thing or a bad thing. We just don’t categorize things but humans as well and sometimes that is a bad thing. There are many people that are affected by classism and racism, these are two ways we categorize each other. The life style of people in Mexico, is determined by social status and at time racial makeups. Classism means to be prejudice against or in favor of one’s social class. It affects many in Mexico and it prevents them from having a suitable life style. There is a correlation between social class and skin color. It is important to not discard the essence of racism just because in Mexico not many are worried about racism. There is a similarities of those who are in the wealthy classes and their light skin color and more of a Spaniard ancestors.

Coloniality of power is a concept/phrase originally coined by Anibal Quijano. The concept itself refers to interconnecting the practices and legacies of European colonialism in social orders and forms of knowledge. More specifically, it describes the lasting legacy of colonialism within modern society in the form of social and racial discrimination that has been incorporated into today’s social orders. Furthermore, it identifies the racial, political and social hierarchies enforced by European colonialists in Latin America that gave value to certain people while marginalizing others. Quijano’s main argument is based around the notion that the colonial structure of power created a class system, where Spaniards and other light skinned ethnicities