The Rural Middle Class in Colombia

Journal für Entwicklungspolitik: JEP, 2017

In this article I analyse the relationship between rurality and middle classes. Few recent studies on middle classes have examined the role of rurality within middle class expansion processes at the global scale. I conducted a critical analysis of rurality and the middle classes in light of a recent proliferation of studies on global middle classes. This proliferation may be reflective of an evolving political and academic discourse within mainstream institutions, aimed at promoting the expansion of urban middle classes. Consequently, a critical analysis of this political and academic discourse attending to the various impacts of the expansion of urban middle classes on nature, and on rural areas and populations, is required. I applied mixed research methods in a case study of Colombia. The results indicated a paradox inherent in the expansion of middle classes. On the one hand, this expansion is aimed at reducing general social inequalities, and yet, on the other hand, it increases rural (and urban–rural) inequalities. Moreover, the expansion of urban middle classes reproduces land concentration and has negative impacts on nature. Concurrently, connections between urban and rural populations, along with new ruralities encompassing urban middle class populations, are evolving under the banner of sustainability. These trends reflect the complexity of structures of inequality in the connections between rural and urban populations.

2013

Colombia has historically had an extremely serious problem of land inequality. This problem was identified by political elites at least in the early 1930s, but weaknesses in the reformist proposal (Le Grand, 1986) and a posterior internal confrontation known as La Violencia maintained over decades the old distribution patterns basically untouched. Pacification allowed new reformist intents in the 1960s. While these intents certainly should not be tagged as eyewash, they failed to produce the proverbial qualitative leap. Over the last three decades – when the country entered into a new wave of internal conflict – the situation worsened dramatically, as the displacement of peasants and the usurpation of their land became both an outcome of confrontation and a strategy of some armed actors. This displacement and usurpation more than reversed the modifications of the status quo produced by the rather shy intents of progressive redistribution initiated in the 1960s. According to one author,

Archivos De Economia, 2013

The present research aims to compare and improve the measurement and, therefore, the definition of what "middle class" represents, for a group of countries in Latin America, namely Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Brazil and Ecuador, using a methodology based on the expenditure of households, compared to the most common approach that uses income as a referent variable. It looks for a definition of middle class according to particularities inherent to Latin American social composition, and develops a characterization of the sample countries, according to the World Bank GDP (PPP-2010) classification. Additionally, some findings about wealth distribution are pinpointed using GINI measurements. For the proposed measurements, this study uses household survey data collected with similar objectives and techniques in each of the sample countries in order to quantify and qualify middle classes. Once defined, the measurements will help governments of the region to re-focus or improve the design and implementation of their social programs and policies that aim to reduce economic opportunity gaps.

2015

This article has as its objective the analysis of rural income dispersion in Brazil. To this en we fit econometric regression models using the Gini index as the dependent variable, tecnology, and environmental, social and demographic indices as independent variables. The analysis is performed on a regional basis. The statistical approach uses fractional regression and generalized method of moments 9GMM) The tecnological variable crystallizes the production process uses county data collected from the Brazilian agricultural census of 2006. Tecnology is significant and dominates the relationship in all regions. The other covariates vary in regional intensity.

Despite the high levels of inequality in Latin America, we know very little about how citizens perceive themselves in terms of social class. Using a question on subjective social class included in the AmericasBarometer 2012, this Insights report compares two countries that represent opposites in the regional distribution of inequality: the more egalitarian Uruguay and one of the most unequal countries in the world, Colombia. We explore how Colombians and Uruguayans identify on the social ladder and the determinants of this perception. As expected, we find that those who are wealthier and more educated place themselves in higher classes. Yet, the role of education varies. It is more relevant in Colombia than in Uruguay, where access to education is more equal. Moreover, ascribed factors such as a darker skin color and living in a rural area are related to lower class self identification in the more unequal Colombia, but not in Uruguay. Finally, we present evidence that other perceptions such as the evaluation of one’s current and past personal economic situations or general life satisfaction are as important as more objective measures of well-being in determining class perceptions in these two countries.

Historická sociologie, 2021

Class based electoral behaviour belongs to topics that have been subject of research for many decades; especially in developed Western countries. The class structure is a basis for class voting research. The EGP scheme is a most widespread model of social structure. This scheme is based on the employment structure; some authors prefer other models based for example. On the number of assets of each household or on the household income. This paper attempts to test different stratification models using the Colombia example to see whether class voting results will differ significantly or whether certain matches will be found.

2009

This paper uses Colombian household survey data collected over the period 1984-2005 to estimate Gini coe¢ cients along with their corresponding standard errors. We …nd a statistically signi…cant increase in wage income inequality following the adoption of the liberalisation measures of the early 1990s, and mixed evidence during the recovery years that followed the economic recession of the late 1990s. We also …nd that in several cases the observed di¤erences in the Gini coe¢ cients across cities have not been statistically signi…cant. JEL Classi…cation: C12; D31; I32.

World Development, 1981

There are gradations of poverty even in the poorest societies. This essay explores indicators that measure wealth differences between households in the same community. Ethnographic and other literature has been surveyed, to provide examples from major Thiid World areas. The most important single indicator is control of land, followed by other productive resources -capital equipment (tractors, ploughs), consumer durables, income (farm and nonfarm) and livestock. Non-productive indicators include housing, consumer goods, fuel, ceremonial expenditure and diet. Methodological problems are examined, and the essay concludes with representative case studies that illustrate effective and specific use of indicators.

Research Series 93, 2024

The official definition for determining which areas are urban and which are rural in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean continues to be characterized by dichotomous criteria based mainly on the number of inhabitants. This fails to consider either the changing and highly diverse context of rural areas or their increasing productive diversification and interaction with urban and intermediate areas. A fresh measure of what constitutes rurality will sharpen understanding of territories and strengthen public policies directed toward these areas, where the most pronounced disadvantages for meeting the 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development Goals are encountered. This article summarizes the main findings of a joint technical project between the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in Mexico and Panama, which aimed to generate new methods for defining and measuring rurality. Two index proposals are presented for the two studied countries: the relative rurality index and the contiguity of areas of similar densities. This research provides: (i) a methodological approach for the construction of alternative rurality scenarios; (ii) cartographic and statistical information for the socioeconomic characterization and analysis of territories; and (iii) applied analysis for strengthening development policies for rural areas in Mexico and Panama within the framework of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.