Chapter 21

Latin American Society in Transition

The following material is designed to help you sort out the major themes and important information in our textbook Benjamin Keen, A History of Latin America, 5^th ed. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1996). You will be quizzed over this material in class. Also use this information as a study guide to prepare for the exam.

Learning Objectives

After you have read and studied Chapter 21, you should be able to:

1. Outline the grave economic and social problems of Latin America (for example, food-production deficits and inadequate housing, education, and health care) and describe how explosive population growth and hyperurbanization have made those problems even more intractable.
2. Describe recent changes in class structure and the relative weight of the various classes as a result of industrialization, urbanization, and the commercialization of agriculture.
3. Discuss the change or lack of change in the status of women, racial attitudes, and the mentality of the church and the military.
4. Describe the twentieth-century flowering of scholarship, literature, and the arts in Latin America and the interplay between Latin American culture and society.

Chapter Summary

The chapter opens with an account of an increasing number of grave economic and social problems in the area, with an emphasis on the growing imbalance between population and production of food staples. After a discussion of recent changes in class structure and the relative weight of the various classes, the chapter surveys recent shifts in attitudes with respect to such issues as discrimination on the basis of race and sex. Note is made of the persistence of old prejudices and the cleavages between progressive and conservatives within the church and the military. The chapter concludes with an account of the flowering of scholarship, literature, and the arts in twentieth-century Latin America--a cultural awakening in which Latin American writers and artists tend to regard their work as a mirror of society and an instrument of social and political change.

Identification Terms

Be sure that you are able to identify and explain the historical significance of each of each of these terms from this chapter.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. This material is presented as a study guide exclusively for the use of students in Latin American History at Illinois State University. Please direct any questions to Marc Becker at mbecker@ilstu.edu.