Lumpenbourgeoisie: Lumpendevelopment: Dependence, Class, and Politics in Latin America

by André Gunder Frank, Marion Davis Berdecio (Translator)

Lumpenbourgeoisie: Lumpendevelopment extends further Frank’s well-known thesis on underdevelopment—that underdevelopment in Latin America is not an inherited state, but rather a process which develops and produces backwardness and misery as the counterpart to the wealth produced in the imperialist countries. In this essay he strengthens the methodology and clarifies the relationships between the class forces and their changed settings throughout the history of Latin America.

Thus Dr. Frank is here largely concerned with historical data. His purpose is to examine, throughout the centuries, the relationship between economic dependence, class structure, and the changing policies of lumpendevelopment as they have affected and affect the colonial structure, the agrarian structure, independence, civil wars, liberal reform, imperialism, bourgeois nationalism, and contemporary neo-imperialism. Dr. Frank executes this plan clearly, concisely, and concretely, with an enlightening use of historical materials.
—from the back cover

Includes a Bibliography

Modern Reader PB-285

This translation first published in 1972

Genres: Nonfiction

151 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

André Gunder Frank was Professor of Development Economics and Director of the Institute for Socioeconomic Studies at the University of Amsterdam. His publications include Capitalism and Underdevelopment in Latin America (1967) and Reflections on the World Economic Crisis (1981).

Reviews

[Roberto Yoed · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book that compiles data available to prove that, since the Spanish conquest until today, with USA imperialism, in Latin America there has been a capitalist dependency.

I’m not sure if the term “lumpen” really applies, but I get Gunder’s argument.

I really recommend this essay to anyone that wants to read a good historical synthesis of how Latin America governments have betrayed the people, specially in Argentina, Brasil and Mexico only to have small benefits compared to the international capitals.

[Jojo De veyra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic. Must-read. Must re-read.