ABSTRACT

The post-war urban explosion in Latin America which has manifested itself in the proliferation of vast numbers of shanty-towns in the major cities has raised dramatic questions at the level of theory and policy. This chapter provides a number of questions about the internal structure and organization of the urban working class, and, in particular, points to the importance of status aspiration and achievement as a mechanism whereby the urban poor are integrated into the urban culture and structure. The overall low level of educational attainment suggests a number of problems, of which the chief is that, schooling has not only been unrelated to occupational performance but is directly competitive with certain career structures of the poor. Patterns of association were of considerable importance for the establishment of social status in a social situation that was riddled with patronage and personalism, and in a community where social ties had a high degree of visibility.