Part I Liberalism, the Idea of Race, and Neoliberalism

Eurocentric and Northern imperialist perspectives have often formed the basis of widespread myths and definitions of the middle classes in Latin America. These views have displaced more incisive studies concerning a transnational dialogue that recognizes specific regional circumstances as something other than mere reproductions of a unique original. Such myths have borne little resemblance to the genuine Latin American class experience, since the copies have generally been reductionist or, worse still, responded to the interests of foreign agency over and above the individual features of each local reality. In the past thirty years, however, there has been a shift in focus in the study of the middle classes. The chapters in this section reflect the change that has inspired the authors’ interest in taking their research on Latin America to another level. Underestimation of the possibilities of research into the middle classes has also been a tonic, unlike the case of the upper or popular classes, whose legitimacies as objects of historiographical study can seem unassailable.