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Sunday, October 26, 2008
Group Blog Topic-Racism & Classism in Chile
I find this topic really hard to write about. Although Chile could be considered the capital of classism, there are so many aspects that come into play that I think it would take me several months to be able to write a piece of work that I was happy with. It is a topic I would love to learn more about and I would want to do research to figure out why it is the way it is. Here in Chile, social classes are divided by multiple variables—your last name, in what sector of the city you live, the way you talk, the way you dress, down to in what university you study. All of these characteristics mix together to give a person a status and that status—be it high or low—is assumed as “correct” for that person. If you are born into a poor family, it is typically assumed that that is the way life is and all you can do is live with it. It is not too typical to hear stories about people who are trying to better their situation and change the future of their family. It is not too typical because in Chile, it is extremely difficult economically to better one’s situation. Here, the country’s wealth is one of the most unequally distributed of the world.
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2 comments:
What a great graph! Thanks for sharing.
I remember being shocked to hear in a Poli Sci class that Chile has worse income disparity than Brazil. Having been in the ridiculously luxurious apartment of family friends in Rio and driven by favelas in the same day, it's hard to believe that anything could be worse than that. But because of the way Santiago is segmented, you just don't see that side-by-side comparison as much - it doesn't mean it's not there.
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