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Colombia Upper Class
The upper class comprised two interrelated groups, the
traditional landed elite and the new rich, who owed their
status
primarily to successful entrepreneurship. The former
continued to
base its elite status on distinguished lineage and a
respected
family name, together known as abolengo, and on the
ownership of large tracts of land. It frequently provided
personnel
for the highest offices in the government, the church, and
the
military. Abolengo remained virtually the sole
determinant
of upper-class membership in rural communities and in some
traditionally oriented cities, such as Popayán. In larger
cities
and in areas accessible to its influence, however, wealth
was
probably equally or more important in determining elite
status. In
urban areas, a person's family history was frequently not
as
significant as the financial ability to maintain the
life-style
that had come to be associated with the social elite.
The traditional elite continually lost individual
members to
the middle class, either through the gradual loss of
inherited
wealth or through the division of estates among many
heirs. In the
past, however, and even in the 1980s, displacement of
families was
kept to a minimum because of the custom of mutual aid
among
relatives. If one branch of an elite family suffered
financial
difficulties, friends and relatives rallied to its
support, helping
children to obtain the customary good education and
enabling the
family to maintain a facade of well-being.
In the modern urban industrial communities, however,
the
financial climate had become more demanding as
ever-increasing
emphasis was placed on wealth and its display as a
criterion of
high status. The decline in extended-family cohesion and
the
dispersal of relatives that accompanied urbanization made
it even
less likely that an elite family would feel obligated to
sustain
all of its members at the accustomed level. Thus, many of
these
persons were forced to accept middle-class employment and
living
standards and might even fall into the lower class.
The newer members of the upper class were generally
thought to
be in a transitional state from the middle to the upper
class. They
had acquired economic and social success through
entrepreneurial
skills in banking, commerce, and industry. Some of the
representatives of this group were self-made men, often
mestizos,
who had worked their way up the social ladder from the
middle
class. Others were European immigrants or their
descendants who had
been successful in the business community.
Some observers believed that the new rich constituted a
lower
sector of the upper class because they lacked the lineage,
cultivation, and landowning tradition of the old elite.
Although
the new rich often regarded themselves as equal to the
elite, they
were not so considered by the rest of society. The
barriers between
these two groups were dissolving, however, at least in the
major
urban centers, where changing social standards,
intermarriage, and
shared political interests tended to overrule tradition.
Further linkages between the traditional elite and the
new rich
were provided by the many persons who had roots in both
groups.
Although the entrepreneurial upper class was sometimes
regarded as
entirely of recent origin, many of its members had
aristocratic
forebears and had long been recognized as part of the
traditional
elite. Because of the declining productivity of
traditional
agriculture and the increased opportunity for investment
in
industry, business, and commercial farming, the sons of
large
landowners had been among the first to enter these new
areas of
economic endeavor during the 1920s.
Education was traditionally correlated with upper-class
membership. Upper-class children received the best
education in the
most prestigious schools, beginning at one of the
exclusive private
schools and ending with a degree from one of the country's
wellknown universities. Intellectual and professional careers,
particularly in law, medicine, and journalism, were
preferred by
sons of the elite. It was not unusual for a member of this
class to
obtain an advanced degree and take a position as a
university
professor for several years before entering high
government office
or assuming a managerial position in a family enterprise.
The upper class was very successful in maintaining
exclusiveness and controlling change through a system of
informal
decision-making groups called roscas--the name of a
twisted
pastry. These informal groups existed at different levels
and
across different spheres and were linked hierarchically by
personal
relationships. Their composition varied according to
level--
municipal, departmental, or national--but each group tried
to
include at least one powerful person from every sphere. A
rosca was a vitally important system in both the
social and
the political context because it was at this level of
interaction
that most political decisions were made and careers
determined.
Only when a man was a member of such a group could he
consider
himself a member of the upper-middle or upper class.
Roscas linked influential individuals and
institutions
in such a way that an important university, a commercial
bank, an
investment bank, an association of industries, and
agricultural
interests might all be coordinated and controlled by a few
persons.
Several competing groups in an area often bargained and
traded
favors among themselves. A casual observer might not
recognize the
linkages within such groups until he began to do business
in the
area or needed something done in an official capacity.
Colombians
moving up the social ladder became increasingly aware of
the
importance of such groups.
Data as of December 1988
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