Overview

In the last decades, the Latin American middle class is growing in size while becoming more heterogeneous. Sustained economic growth explains its increasing size, but behind its heterogeneity there is not only the diversification of lifestyles, but also the crystallization of a large process of upward social mobility of second and third generation migrants to capital cities and their incorporation into middle-class positions. In the last decades, these individuals are now part of the different spheres of socialization formerly occupied by the traditional middle class: private schools, college and universities, middle-class jobs and occupations, and traditional middle-class neighborhoods. To explore the genesis of this phenomenon and its consequences, the author studies Residential San Felipe, a quintessential traditional middle-class neighborhood in Lima, Peru, which is currently receiving an important influx of upwardly mobile families. The case of San Felipe shows that inside the contemporary middle class a strong boundary between the traditional middle class and the new middle class permeates the everyday life of the neighborhood. However, though this difference between the traditional and new middle class is recognized by all residents of San Felipe, its relevance as well as the elements at the basis of this distinction varies.

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9781322336619

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Omar Pereyra combines methodological sophistication with an intimate sense of place and a sharp eye for cultural subtleties and human foibles. His case study a unique 33-building complex built in the 1960s for public- and private-sector employees offers a near-perfect venue to examine generational change and intergenerational conflict within Lima s middle classes. As traditional white-collar and professional groups decline and age, new middle groups have emerged that are more entrepreneurial, often wealthier but less stable, and significantly more ethnically diverse. By looking at relations among these distinct middle-class actors in a dense suburban environment, Pereyra explores Peruvian race construction and racism, why migration history and education are crucial class markers, how people defend or challenge symbolic boundaries between us and not-us, the politics and infrapolitics of apartment living, and the frequent distance between expressed social attitudes and observed social interactions.--David Parker, Queen's University

Author Information

Omar Pereyra is professor of sociology at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru.

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