Elites in Latin America. by Seymour Martin Lipset; Aldo Solari Review by: John N.

Plank The Hispanic American Historical Review, Vol. 48, No. 2 (May, 1968), pp. 261-263 Published by: Duke University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2510756 . Accessed: 24/09/2012 03:16
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for the student the legal system's impact on the majority of its people. In the second half, to be sure, he exploresone of these vital proband it is obvious that this is where his heart lems, agrarian reform, and skill lie. But it is not enough to examine only agrarian reform, no matterhow thoroughly. On the other hand, he is closer to the problemsand anxieties of the middle class in bothLatin America and with internationaltrade the U.S. than those who concernthemselves and taxation and formingforeignsubsidiaries. Too literal translationsare objectionable,and the atrocitiescommitted in some of these texts are incredible. Where available, the oldest standard translations of codes have been used; where not, appear, such as this one: "Regardless of the imperative abominations of moral duty, we see daily that the parties, in their desire to carry out their juridical affairs,do not disdain unsuspected methods to virtues and efpersuade othersto contract,for example, attributing to to the productsof theirindustrythat do not correspond fectiveness reality" (p. 49). The book was printed for the Universityof California in Venezuela, and, while marred by occasional typographical in inter-American cooperation. errors,it representsa fineeffort S. STERN DAVID Law Golden Gate College of Elites in Latin America. Edited by SEYMOUR MARTIN LPSET and Press. Tables. ALDO SOLARI.New York, 1967. Oxford University Notes. Indices. Pp. xii, 531. Cloth. $9.50. Paper. $2.95. Here are fifteen independentessays bound into a single volume, whole,but because all of them, not because theymakeup an integrated in one fashionor another,have something to do with Latin American are extraordinarily good; most "elites." Some of the contributions poor. are useful; only one is distressingly An outgrowthof a Montevideoseminar of 1965 on "Elites and Developmentin Latin America," the collectionhas been divided by of these,"Economic Dethe editorsinto four categories. In the first " and Business the velopment Classes, SeymourMartinLipset contribreview of the literatureon values, educautes a discursive, synthetic as that literaturemay bear upon the Latin tion,and entrepreneurship American situation. This section also containsa peculiarly tentative but provocativetheoreticalessay on approaches to the study of Latin America's urban middle classes by the Chilean Luis Ratinoffand if unexcitingexaminationof the industrialelite by the a thoughtful Brazilian Fernando Cardoso.

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The secondsection,"Functional Elites," seemsto me boththe most valuable and the most disappointing. Its value derives from three stunninglysuccessful essays: those by Robert Scott, Ivan Vallier, and Frank Bonilla. Scott is superblyequipped to handle his theme, of political the challengeposed to political elites by the requirements account, sympathetic but a realistic and he has written modernization, free fromjargon. and delightfully bold, responsible, Ivan Vallier has prepared what must stand as the finestessay in the book. Despite a ponderous title, "Religious Elites: Differentiations and Developmentsin Roman Catholicism," his presentationis masterof he is a confident graceful and persuasive. More important, Latin Americanscene but also the endurnot only the contemporary ing historicaldimension. Disciplined and skilled in the techniquesof social science, adhering to the standards of responsiblescholarship, his work he retains a profoundappreciationfor religionthat informs and power. and gives it significance Frank Bonilla, writing on cultural elites, has produced another perceptiveand compassionatepiece. Like his precharacteristically analysis, vious work,this is markedby careful research,sophisticated empathywiththe subjects of his study. and evidenceof extraordinary But Bonilla is not at all a sentimentalist:"As long as [the intelhe gains lectual] remainspoliticallyradical and socially conservative, no true leverageon the shape of his own life,that of his class, or of his society." (p. 251). The other essays in this section include one on militaryelites by Irving Louis Horowitz,one on the labor elite by Henry Landsberger, by the Peruvian Anibal and one on contemporary peasant movements here except that they them Quijano Obregon. Little need be said of above) the otherthreeessaysnoted immediately (and, forthat matter, cannotbe usefullycomparedwith one another,a fact that makes the book less valuable than it might otherwisehave been. For example, occasionally bombastic,and highly charged apHorowitz' diffused, proach to his material simply does not comportwith Landsberger's quite narrowthesison the basis of surveyresearchdata, namely,that labor in Latin America is less revolutionarythan most observers have concluded. There is much to be said for permissiveeditorswho follow to ask theirown questions, will allow all authorsin a symposium and establishtheirown priorities. But the consetheir own interests, quence of such an editorialpolicy is likelyto be, as it is in thisvolume, a collectionof discreteand conceptuallyincompatiblecontributions. Education is the subject of the third and fourthsections. Four

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and elite formation.Two of the essays have to do withthe university four are by Brazilians, Darcy Ribeiro and Glaucio Ary Dillon Soares. rectorof the Universityof Brasilia, makes an impasRibeiro,former sioned plea for universityreformin Latin America on groundsthat familiarto mostof us. Dillon Soares presents are already thoroughly the results of some survey research among universitystudents in Colombiaand Puerto Rico designedto test "Intellectual Identityand Political Ideology." Readers will not be startled by his conclusion "that as Latin American universitiesbecome more professionalized, and proas studentsand educated men become involved in scientific fessionalroles-involvementswhich should be associated with greater of students and social modernization-theproportion industrialization and graduates who support diffuseradical politics concerned with global societal changes, rather than specificreforms,will probably decline." (p. 449). In this section also Kenneth Walker of the Unichapter on "Political versityof Toronto contributesa workmanlike " and Luis Scherz-Gareiaof Chile writes Socialization in Universities, on "Relations Between Public and Private Universities." The Uruguayan Aldo Solari and the Brazilian Aparecida Joly Gouveia are responsible for the concluding segment on secondary not schools. Both of the essays here are worthour serious attention, also but merits(which are substantial), only because of theirintrinsic has rebecause the role of the secondaryschools in elite formation investigation. ceived far too little systematic BrookingsInstitution
JOHN

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PLANK

Slavery in theAmericas. A ComparativeStudy of Virginia and Cuba. of ChicagoPress. By HERBERT S. KLEIN. Chicago,1967. University Tables. Notes. Index. Pp. xi, 270. $6.95. Klein says that comparativehistorianshave not gone beyond the use of legal materials to the "social and economicdynamicsof the and conclusions that to test the assumptions New World slave systems have been proposed" (p. viii). This he does in examining North pointingup the uniquenessof the and Spanish Americanprototypes, of each in deNorth American systemand evaluating the influences terminingthe role and status of the Negro in bondage and after emancipation. This work mightbetterbe called parallel studies than a comparative study. It is divided into fiveparts-the beginningsof the two the Churchand the slave, slaveryand the colonies,the legal structure,