ABSTRACT
The aristocracy had traditionally based its economic, social, and political power mainly on the control of the land. Additional clues to the aristocracy's code of social and political behavior are found in its agricultural background. To the prestige of the family name and landownership was added political influence exerted through public offices. The thinning of aristocratic names among deputies that is in the Chamber that has less decisional power and more conflicting ideologies becomes visible from 1930 onwards. In an enlightening paper, Fernando H. Cardoso underlines the important roles played by exporters of agricultural commodities and by British trading agents in the development of entrepreneurial elites in Latin America. Diverging views characterize the appraisal of the role of the bourgeoisie in the socioeconomic development of Chilean society. Spaniards, whose dilution in the social texture of the country was achieved by the second generation, restricted themselves to small enterprises.
