Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book analyzes the process of industrialization in the context of underdevelopment. It provides a critique of dependency theory, a necessary step towards elaborating an alternative analysis. The book considers dependency theory in its many forms and demonstrates that the theory cannot account for a phenomenon central to its analysis, the pattern of direct foreign investment. It also presents an alternative theory of underdevelopment, based on an analysis of the nature of capitalist development. The book explores changes in the structure of Peruvian manufacturing and explores comparisons to other Latin American countries and to advanced capitalist countries. It explains empirical evidence that casts considerable doubt upon this hypothesis. The book discusses the condition of the working class and its composition. It demonstrates the quantitative analysis in a manner easily understood by those not of a statistical orientation.