ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the urbanization of a small Amazon town and the concomitant growth of an urban middle class. A significant portion of this growth is due to the development of an urban middle class. In 1970, for example, the middle and upper-middle classes constituted 4.6% of the population, but in 1977, 20%. The services and consumer goods provided to meet the needs of the new middle class are simply beyond the means of the vast majority of the population. The rapid growth in Itaituba caused by the highway project created special opportunities for members of the middle class to fill a void on the frontier. A huge commercial expansion has occurred; fostered, at least in part, by waves of entrepreneurs drawn to an area experiencing rapid population growth. The entrepreneurs rely on several occupational groups including colonists, gold miners and others connected with mineral exploration, and bureaucrats from government agencies.
