SOCIAL SCIENCE 2460 9.0
CONTEMPORARY LATIN AMERICA

TEST 2 - STUDY GUIDE
November 2004

RURAL LATIN AMERICA

latifundia-minifundia system (main features of each, why system?)
peasants & rural workers (compare & contrast)
mono-crop & cash-crop production
subsistence agriculture & industrial agriculture (compare & contrast)
transformations in Latin American agriculture (main historical trends)
Green revolution, technological package, HYVs
Environmental impact of industrial agriculture
Five moments (Barndt) (main features, impact on LA)
Agribusiness (define, main features, impact)
vertical & horizontal integration
Global Food Industry (features, impact, differences/similarities at production/consumption sides)
Why are corporations willing to surrender ownership of production phase?
Commodification & alienation in food production
Gender in the global food industry (overall patterns)
Resistance to global food industry (main experiences discussed in Barndt)
Designer supermarkets & fast food (main features, place in Global Food Chain)
MacDonalization

URBAN LATIN AMERICA

Urbanization (trends in Latin America )
Cities (define, main features)
push & pull factors, urban primacy, urban bias
impact of history on present-day cities
main features of urban development in Latin America
role of streets in Latin America cities
terciarization, over-urbanization thesis, marginality syndrome
marginality theory (main propositions, strengths & weaknesses)
informal sector (define, main features)
informal sector (functional or dysfunctional for capitalism? Drain or resource?)
cardborad collectors (who are they?, Poor or marginal? Economic/environmental role?)
impact of globalization on cardboard collection
self-help housing according to Gilbert (main causes, solution or exploitation?)
Villa El Salvador (main experiences, implications for marginality theory)