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Elites in Latin America by Seymour Martin Lipset; Aldo SolariReview by: John Duncan PowellThe Journal of Developing Areas, Vol. 2, No. 2 (Jan., 1968), pp. 283-284Published by: College of Business, Tennessee State UniversityStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4189466 .

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Book Reviews 283

An acquaintance with the work of Bell and his associates is necessaryfor the student of the West Indies. Unfortunately this book is expensive(in either cloth or paper editions) and has many characteristics of a"non-book." Four of the chapters have already been published as arti-cles, one is summarized in Bell and Oxaal's Decisions of Manhood andthree are forthcoming as monographs.DAVID PAVYHarvard University

ELITES IN LATIN AMERICA. Edited by Seymour Martin Lipset andAldo Solari. New York: Oxford University Press, 1967. Pp. xii + 531,Paper-$2.95, Cloth-$9.50.Upon spotting this volume on a bookstore shelf, the Latin Americanistand the general developmental analyst are likely to be thrown into astate of high anticipation because, as the jacket promises, this "is notonly the first study of Latin American elites, but is also the first com-prehensive sociological study of Latin America." The state of anticipa-tion is heightened by the roster of contributors (many of the finestsocial thinkers in the hemisphere) and sustained by Professor Lipset'sintroductory essay. But in the end, we fall victim to a feeling of relativedeprivation.The main thrust of the volume is that: (1) the value systems of tradi-tional elites and their sociopolitical consequences diminish the possibilityof a modernizing transformation in Latin America; (2) upwardly mobileelites emerging from new social bases either assimilate these samevalues during their ascent, or are unlikely to challenge effectively thetraditional sociopolitical processes; and (3) the educational process, asit is organized in Latin America, shows little promise of altering thissituation. We are left, however, with some loose threads in this analysiswhich threaten to undo the tapestry. Two of the social bases of tradi-tional elite values, the church and the military, are treated in thevolume, and internal changes are occurring in each. Within the church,a cleavage is developing between the social activists at the institutionalbase and the managers at the hierarchical apex. Within the military,values are shifting away from their traditional moorings (while remainingin many ways incompatible with a modernizing transformation). Thethird pillar of the traditional triumvirate, the landed elite, is not singledout for the attention it merits. Although mentioned in almost everyessay, no specific chapter is devoted to its study. Since the other twoare changing, yet the operative value systems are being maintained,might it not be that the landed elite is the single most important carrierand steward of the traditional values?Or might it be that the peculiar nature of the institution of propertyper se is the systematic element of stability in the Latin Americanworld? In that case, it would have been interesting in this volume onelites to have analyzed the behavior of the revolutionary elites in Cubain order to gauge the depth of changes in their values. It is probablytoo early to tell, but one wonders whether the transformation of theproperty system has changed the values of the managers of the econiomy

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284 Book Reviews

and polity, or whether some sort of new class is emerging with man) ofthe traditional values still operative. Does the patron system still func-tion in Cuba? Do familism, machlismo, personalism, heroic defiance offate, and other manifestations of traditionial Hispanic values still functionin Cuba? Granting the difficulty in obtaining an objective analysis ofCuban developments, one wishes that the editors had made some attemptto do so.Beyond such criticisms lies the fact that this is a valuable study. Onecould not include the work of so many brilliant men in one volumewithout producing brilliant results. Three of the chapters-Landsbergeron labor elites, Bonilla on cultural elites, and Ratinoff on middle classelites-represent scholarship of very high caliber. And I suspect that itis Professor Lipset to whom we owe thanks for initiating and guidingthis entire enterprise; for in bringing together the best of Latin Americansociologists with leading North American sociologists, he has challengedthe widely held bias, that Latin Americans can not match their Yankeecounterparts in objective, empirical analysis. While a few chapters dosuggest a basis for holding such an outlook, several of the Latin Ameri-can contributions are superb, particularly that of Glaucio Soares. And,as the chapter by Professor Walker unfortunately demonstrates, NorthAmerican mastery of certain methodological tools does not guaranteesignificant sociological analysis.In conclusion, Elites in Latin America is an important contributionito the field of development-and the statures of Professor Lipset anldothers are unlikely to be diminished by whatever shortcomings thevolume exhibits. Used selectively for teaching purposes, it promises tobe an extremely useful tool. Because of the excellence of somneof itsindividual contributions, it should also become a source of enlightennmentand stimulation to further research. It is a recognition of the magnitudeof the c iallenge rather than a criticism of this volume to realize thatwe are ,till waiting for that "first comprehensive sociological stuidy ofLatin America."

JOHN DUNCAN POWELLCenter for International AffairsHarvurd University

THE COLONIAL BACKGROUND OF MODERN BRAZIL. By CaioPrado, Jr. Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1967.Pp. 530, $11.00.After its initial publication in Brazil in 194?., this book was soonconsidered a fundamental contribution to the knowledge of Braziliansocial and political development. Successive editions have more thanconfirmed this estimate; now a translation makes this classic of Brazilianhistorical and sociological literature available to a larger English speak-

ing public.It is uncontested that Caio Prado, Jr., with his many publications andparticularly with this book, must be considered one of the most compe-tent specialists to have analyzed the mechanisms of economic life inBrazilian history. He combines an uncommon .talent for observationand interpretation of economic phenomena with the ability to keep much