ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the complexity of dealing with social class in South America is a result not only of reality, but also of the need to design a model of social class based on current social theories, a model which properly expresses the social distinctions of the South American scenario. The history of South America is responsible not only for advancing language contact but also for the creation of a socioeconomic context of social inequalities with linguistic reflections. The first analyses of social classes in South America were those within a Marxist framework, and pointed to the difficulty that the proletariat had in gaining political power and sufficient popular support to assume its revolutionary role in the continent. South American sociolinguists, especially Brazilians, monitor for level of education as one of the elements related to social class. Sociolinguistic studies in South America find gender differences in the use of linguistic variable forms.
