ABSTRACT
During the 1980s, Latin America faced a severe economic crisis, considered the last manifestation of a deferred social crisis. Its implications and social consequences demonstrate a crisis of social systems, in the sense that it has been impossible to restore the social rationale of development that prevailed from the post–World War II period up to the late 1970s. The crisis provoked in Latin America a reduction of 5 percent of the per-capita domestic product between 1980 and 1987, falling back to 1978 levels. The shrinkage in economic activity took place at the same time as the growth rate of the labor force increased, thus creating high rates of unemployment, a rise in underemployment, and a considerable deterioration in real remunerations. At the same time, social services provided by the governments deteriorated due to adjustment policies.
