Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0383/03832.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 36KB | 576 lines

$Unique_ID{COW03832}
$Pretitle{297}
$Title{Uruguay
Chapter 6A.   Social Structure}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{The Director Foreign Area Studies}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{class
middle
social
lower
upper
large
family
small
population
country}
$Date{1971}
$Log{}
Country:     Uruguay
Book:        Area Handbook for Uruguay
Author:      The Director Foreign Area Studies
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1971

Chapter 6A.   Social Structure

     In 1970 the social structure consisted of large middle and lower classes
and a small upper class in the urban and southern rural areas and small upper
and large lower classes in the northern rural regions. Although the majority
of the population in the nation as a whole was of the lower class, the middle
class was larger than in most Latin American countries and exercised a
powerful influence on much of the society. The values and ideals of the middle
class were accepted by a large part of the country, and the political ideology
of the dominant Colorado Party has been extensively influenced by middle class
ideas.

     A second major characteristic of the social structure, in addition to
the importance of the middle class, was the high degree of urbanization. About
three-fourths of all Uruguayans live in towns or cities, and almost one-half
live in the capital city itself. The population is ethnically, linguistically,
and racially homogeneous. The secondary and tertiary sectors of the economy
are well developed, and large numbers of persons are employed in the civil
service, private enterprise, personal services, and the nationalized
industries; in contrast, the primary sector employs a relatively small part of
the population. The long life expectancy means that there are many older
people, and a significant part of the population is composed of retired and
pensioned individuals.

     Social mobility is possible, but the society is less fluid than it has
been in the past. Education is the primary avenue for social advancement.
Most of the population is literate. The large middle class generally has at
least some secondary education. Most people are well informed about national
events and are avid consumers of the mass media. The great majority
participate in national life, including political affairs, cultural endeavors,
and social events. The entire population, including the rural lower class of
the smallest landowners, tenant farmers, and wage laborers, is fully
incorporated into the monetary economy.

     The middle class is especially influential because of the character of
the upper and lower classes. The upper social group of landowners and
business and financial leaders, although wealthy, never developed the strong
aristocratic tradition and sense of exclusiveness typical of many neighboring
Latin American countries. Most upper class individuals continue to believe in
the equal personal dignity of all human beings. Most of the lower class is
assisted by the generous government welfare programs. The few who are not are
found almost exclusively in the rural north and in shantytowns on the
outskirts of Montevideo and some interior towns. Consequently, the society is
fairly homogeneous, and the poles of wealth and poverty are not so apparent as
in most other Latin American countries.

     Rural social structure in the livestock regions of the north is divided
into a landholding upper class and a lower class engaged in paid farm labor.
The typical form of landownership is the estancia (large ranch or country
estate), which employs a few rangers and workers to tend the livestock and
repair the fences. Along the southern and western coasts and around the
interior towns of the coastal region, however, fairly prosperous small family
farms are the rule. They generally produce for city consumption and have a
psychological and ideological orientation toward the urban areas.

     The small nuclear family prevails in much of the country. The urbanite
who believes in the importance of education for his children chooses to limit
his family to the number of children he can afford. Consequently, small
families are the norm for the urban middle class and increasingly for the rest
of the country as well. Relatives outside the nuclear family are of great
social and economic importance to the upper and upper middle classes but play
a declining role farther down the social ladder. Women enjoy a more
independent and emancipated position than in most other Latin American
countries. The majority remain in the home, but it is not unusual for a woman
to gain an education and pursue a career.

     Divorce was legalized early in the twentieth century, and one procedure
provides that a divorce can be obtained simply at a wife's request. Although
divorce rates have been increasing, they are still low. Most marriages are
stable, and the family is typically a cohesive, harmonious unit. In the
lowest levels of society, many do not contract a formal marriage, and
male-female relationships are often short lived. The mother-centered family,
in which a woman is the fulcrum of a large group of children and lives with a
succession of men to whom she is not married, is typical of poorer families
in the stockraising north. The declining demand for agricultural labor in 1970
forced many young people from this area to migrate, splitting up the family
and severing ties with more distant relatives.

Development of the Class System

     For the first 100 years of the country's history the inhabitants were
almost exclusively gauchos (cowboys) and hide dealers, scattered across the
grasslands and making their livelihood from the abundant herds of sheep and
cattle. When Montevideo was established in 1726, it was intended to be a
frontier fort; 100 years later, at the time of independence, it was still
small, with only 6,000 inhabitants and a very small educated elite (see ch. 3,
Historical Setting).

     During the early nineteenth century the land was gradually carved into
large estancias, but in many cases the life style of the estancia owner was
not significantly different from that of his ranch workers or the gauchos. On
the estancias and in the small interior towns there was considerable contact
between the classes, and life was generally simple for all levels of society.
An energetic and fortunate gaucho with no prestigious family background or
education might acquire a large tract of land and stock. Consequently,
although the large landowners came to hold substantial power and influence in
the country, they were slower to develop an aristocratic tradition based on
the prestige of landholding and the family pedigree than many other Latin
American countries; and many retained an egalitarian outlook.

     The country also lacked any large racial or ethnic minority group that
could serve as an inexpensive labor force for the enrichment of the
landowners. Slaves were imported in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth
centuries, but the total number was always small. They were principally owned
by urban residents and usually worked as domestic servants, urban
construction workers, and field hands on truck farms or were hired out as
artisans or laborers by their owners. Few families owned more than five; the
average slave-owner possessed two or three. The army provided a ready avenue
for slaves to win freedom before the abolition of slavery and a means of
achieving social prestige and standing afterward. The Indian population was
always small and by 1832 had been virtually eliminated (see ch. 5, Ethnic
Groups and Languages).

     During the nineteenth century the social structure of the majority of the
country was gradually transformed from a semifeudal system based on the
ownership of land to a class society with a growing middle class and an
expanding industrial and commercial lower class. Trade with foreign countries
became increasingly important, necessitating the emergence of a prosperous
group of middlemen based in the city. A center of economic power