Doctoral Dissertation Research: Transformation of the Middle Classes in Lima, Peru

在整个拉丁美洲，学者们都在哀叹市场改革带来的通货膨胀和失业导致该地区中产阶级的衰落。​秘鲁的中产阶级似乎没有像其他拉丁美洲国家那样萎缩，而是在扩大和多样化，在这个过程中改变了该地区等级制度最森严的社会之一。本文是一位文化人类学家的研究项目，通过对秘鲁利马两个中产阶级群体的家庭如何适应新自由主义政策的比较研究，来调查秘鲁中产阶级的双重困惑。秘鲁中产阶级是研究这一问题的理想场所，因为它提供了一个自然的案例，在这个案例中，两个有着不同实践和心态的群体在一个共同的社会空间中面对同样的市场改革。本研究假设，不同的亲属关系以及安第斯人和克里奥洛人对工作和储蓄活动的不同强调，解释了这两个群体为响应市场政策而发展的做法。这是通过比较分析(1)家庭预算和资源的合理化（节约）和(2)时间的使用和合理化以及如何组织两组的日常生产活动（工作）来调查的。这种对实践的概念性关注将产生新的可检验的假设，这些假设不是关于价值观和社会结构之间的因果关系，而是关于价值观和社会结构是如何从关系实践中产生的，而关系实践既由心态构成，又由心态构成。更广泛的影响：本研究除了培养年轻学者外，还通过关注中产阶级群体兴衰背后的原因及其对民主和自由市场制度出现的影响，对拉丁美洲新自由主义改革的影响提供了更复杂的理解。这些知识对于那些关注特定文化习俗如何调解政治经济改革效果的人来说将是特别感兴趣的。本项目由美国国家科学基金会文化人类学和美国国际科学办公室共同资助。

Throughout Latin America, scholars have mourned the fall of the region's middle classes due to the inflation and unemployment accompanying market reforms. But in Peru, while some report the demise of the 'traditional' criollo middle class, others celebrate the creation of an emerging middle class, consisting of second and third generation Andean migrants who achieved upward mobility through the urban informal economy. It seems that Peru's middle classes are not shrinking, as in other Latin American nations, but are expanding and diversifying, transforming one of the region's most hierarchical societies in the process. This dissertation research project by a cultural anthropologist will investigate the twin puzzle of the Peruvian middle classes through a comparative study of how families from two middle class groups in Lima, Peru have adjusted to neoliberal policies. The Peruvian middle classes is an ideal site for studying this because it offers a natural case in which two groups each with distinct sets of practices and mentalities confront the same market reforms in a shared social space. This study hypothesizes that differing kinship relations and the distinct emphases the Andean and criollo mentalities placed on working and saving activities explain the practices the two groups developed in response to market policies. This is investigated through a comparative analysis of (1) rationalizations of family budgets and resources (saving) and (2) use and rationalization of time and how it organizes daily production activities (working) in the two groups. This conceptual focus on practices will generate new testable hypotheses not about the causal relation between values and social structure, but about how these emerge from relational practices that are both structured by and structuring of mentalities.Broader Impact: This research, in addition to training a young scholar, offers a more complex understanding of the effects of neoliberal reforms in Latin America by focusing on the reasons behind the rise and fall of middle class groups and the influence this has on the emergence of democratic and free market institutions. Such knowledge will be of special interest to those concerned with how particular cultural practices mediate the effects of political economic reforms.This project is jointly supported by NSF's Cultural Anthropology and Office of International Science Americas programs.