The Pattern of Development in Latin America

Abstract

Economic development in the industrial nations of the North was led by an always advancing technology. The society adjusted by increments to advances, and an ideology of free enterprise developed congruently. In the industrial revolution, the Latin-American countries were an agrarian and mineral hinterland. Now that industrialization, as such, is pressing on them, they cannot adapt rapidly to the influx of complex technology. They must reconstruct certain aspects of their society before the technology can operate at all. This means that social inventions must precede the technological. Strong governments must take this responsibility, since they are the only agents that operate with legitimate authority throughout the nation state. To date in Latin America, only Mexico seems to have initiated the major steps that may permit it to move from a nation of secondary development patterns to primary development.