Colombia Middle Class
Bogot� skyline
Courtesy Embassy of Colombia, Washington
The emergence in the twentieth century of a fairly
large middle
class paralleled the development of urban society and of
the modern
institutions of government, education, and social
services.
Although Colombia had always had a small element of
self-employed
shopkeepers, clerks, and overseers, they had been limited
in number
and had no sense of shared identity.
Most of the modern middle class had developed since the
1920s.
As a class, the various middle groups distinguished
themselves from
other members of society by regular employment in
occupations that
generally did not qualify them for membership in the
elite.
The nucleus of the middle class was in the most highly
industrialized urbanized areas--the departments of
Antioquia,
Caldas, and Cundinamarca--where institutional changes had
been most
pronounced. These areas had the highest percentage of
people
employed in professions, government, business, and
trade--all
predominantly middle-class occupations.
The middle class owed its heterogeneity to its late
development
and continued expansion. It consisted of self-employed
small
businessmen, professionals, salaried employees (including
office
workers), other white-collar personnel, and some members
of
organized labor. The expansion of the government
bureaucracy
provided a number of positions for the middle class.
Teachers were
usually included in the middle class, as were most
military
officers, most of the clergy, and some intellectuals,
artists,
journalists, and musicians.
Owners of medium-sized farms, primarily in the
agricultural
departments of Caldas and Antioquia, made up most of the
rural
middle class. They derived the greatest benefits from
governmental
efforts at agricultural credit, technical training,
community
development, and expanded primary education. In addition,
they
possessed a relatively modern outlook in contrast to other
farmers
in more remote areas who had accumulated enough wealth to
be placed
at the top of the middle class but preferred a modified
peasant
existence and traditional outlook.
The diversity of the middle class, which placed some of
its
members scarcely above the lower class in life-style and
income and
others on the lower edge of the upper class, was striking.
Infinite
status gradations characterized the internal structure of
this
class. However, by linking several of the most important
status or
prestige factors, the middle sector can be divided into
two main
parts: an upper middle class and a lower segment in
transition from
the lower class. The sectors were differentiated primarily
on the
basis of the attitudes and values they held and on their
origin in
the social system.
The upper middle class gradually merged into the elite
class
and was composed primarily of professionals, medium-sized
landowners, entrepreneurs, managerial personnel, and some
government bureaucrats. Some of these were descendants of
the
traditional elite who had fallen on the social scale and
clung to
the illusion of their families' former status. They often
did not
consider themselves members of the middle group and
continually
attempted to regain a place in the upper class by modeling
their
manners, behavior, and attitudes on those of the elite.
The members of the upper middle class tended to share a
concern
for culture and outward appearance, exhibited by
conspicuous
consumption. Standards of social behavior were stringently
observed, and active support was given, particularly by
women, to
the Roman Catholic Church and numerous religious
associations. The
completion of academic secondary school was considered
essential
for the child of upper-middle-class parents, and a
university
degree was becoming increasingly necessary. Whereas
membership in
the elite was still determined primarily by family
background and
values, upper-middle-class status was largely determined
by a good
secondary education.
The lower middle class, constituting the bulk of the
middle
class, came primarily from upwardly mobile members of the
lower
class. A large number were clerks or small shopkeepers.
Many had
only a precarious hold on middle-class status and tended
to be less
concerned with imitating upper-class culture and behavior
than with
making enough money to sustain a middle-class life-style.
Families
at this level tended to be just as concerned as those at
higher
social levels with giving their children an education.
Many hoped
to send at least one of their children through a
university,
regardless of the financial burden.
Data as of December 1988
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