Urban Latin America: The Political Condition from Above and Below

Alejandro Portes; John Walton

Published by University of Texas Press 1976

Urban Latin America

The Political Condition from Above and Below

Alejandro Portes and John Walton

In the series Texas Pan American Series

https://doi.org/10.7560/764279

Overview
Contents

About this book

Much research on the city in developing societies has focused mainly on one of three areas—planning, demography, or economics—and has emphasized either power elites or the masses, but not both. The published literature on Latin America has reflected these interests and has so far failed to provide a comprehensive view of Latin American urbanization. Urban Latin America is an attempt to integrate research on Latin American social organization within a single theoretical framework: development as fundamentally a political problem. Alejandro Portes and John Walton have included material on both elites and marginal populations and on the three major areas of research in order to formulate and address some of the key questions about the structure of urban politics in Latin America.

Following an introduction that delineates the scope of Latin American urban studies, Portes discusses the Latin American city as a creation of European colonialism. He goes on to examine political behavior among the poor, with central reference to system support and countersystem potential. Walton provides material for a comparative study of four cities: Monterrey and Guadalajara in Mexico and Medellín and Cali in Colombia. He also summarizes a large number of urban elite studies and develops a theoretical interpretation of their collective results, based on class structure and vertical integration. Material in each chapter is cross-referenced to other chapters, and the authors have used a common methodological approach in synthesizing and interpreting the research literature. In the final chapter they generalize current findings, elaborating on the interface between elite and mass politics in the urban situation. They make some observations on approaching changes and pinpoint possible research strategies for the future.

Author / Editor information

Alejandro Portes is Professor of Sociology at Princeton University.John Walton is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of California–Davis.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Tables Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
1. Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2. The Economy and Ecology of Urban Poverty Alejandro Portes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	7
3. The Politics of Urban Poverty Alejandro Portes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	70
4. Elites and the Politics of Urban Development: A Comparative Study of Four Cities John Walton Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	111
5. Structures of Power in Latin American Cities: Toward a Summary and Interpretation John Walton Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	136
6. Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	169
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	179
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	193
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	207

Language: English
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Copyright year: 1976
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 228

eBook

Published: September 12, 2014
ISBN: 9781477302842