ABSTRACT
The crucial role of the middle classes in the process of modernization is a theme that runs through much of the modernization literature. This is particularly evident in the selection from historian John J. Johnson’s classic work on the emergence of the middle sectors in twentieth-century Latin American society. Johnson argues that between 1880 and 1920 Latin America entered a period of rapid, technologically induced economic growth that reflected its transition from “neo-feudal agriculture to semi-industrial capitalism.” The most visible aspect of this transformation, in a sociopolitical sense, was the rapid expansion of what Johnson called the middle sectors.
Bearers of modern, particularly entrepreneurial values, the people of these middle sectors coalesced into new political parties that transformed the nature of Latin American politics. These people also shared, according to Johnson, a number of characteristics:
They are overwhelmingly urban. They not only have well above average educations themselves but they also believe in universal public education. They are convinced that the future of their countries is inextricably tied to industrialization. They are nationalistic. They believe that the State should actively intrude in the social and economic areas while it carries on the normal functions of government. They recognize that the family has weakened as a political unit in the urban centers, and they have consequently lent their support to the development of organized political parties.
The implications of emergent middle sectors on Latin American development was, for Johnson as well as other modernizationists, salutory. On the one hand, as development-minded new political segments of 89society, the middle sectors would accelerate the process of modernization. On the other hand, solid, prosperous middle classes, inserted between the historical extremes of rich and poor, were the harbinger of a politically stable and democratic society.
