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The Dialectics of Dependency
A foundational essay of class struggle published in English for the first time
Considered one of the most important intellectuals in Latin American social thought, Ruy Mauro Marini demonstrated that underdevelopment and development are the result of relations between economies in the world market, and the class relations they engender. In The Dialectics of Dependency, the Brazilian sociologist and revolutionary showed that, as Latin America came to specialize in the production of raw materials and foodstuffs while importing manufactured goods, a process of unequal exchange took shape that created a transfer of value to the imperialist centers. This encouraged capitalists in the periphery to resort to the superexploitation of workers – harsh working conditions where wages fall below what is needed to reproduce their labor power. In this way, the economies of Latin America, which played a fundamental role in facilitating a new phase of the industrial revolution in western Europe, passed from the colonial condition only to be rendered economically “dependent,” or subordinated to imperialist economies. This unbalanced relationship, which nonetheless allows capitalists of both imperialist and dependent regions to profit, has been reproduced in successive international divisions of labor of world economy, and continues to inform the day-to-day life of Latin American workers and their struggles.
Written during an upsurge of class struggle in the region in the 1970s, and published here in English for the first time, the revelations inscribed in this foundational essay are proving more relevant than ever. The Dialectics of Dependency is an internationalist contribution from one Latin American Marxist to dispossessed and oppressed people struggling the world over, and a gift to those who struggle from within the recesses of present-day imperialist centers—nourishing today’s efforts to think through the definition of “revolution” on a global scale.
Considered one of the most important intellectuals in Latin American social thought, Ruy Mauro Marini demonstrated that underdevelopment and development are the result of relations between economies in the world market, and the class relations they engender. In The Dialectics of Dependency, the Brazilian sociologist and revolutionary showed that, as Latin America came to specialize in the production of raw materials and foodstuffs while importing manufactured goods, a process of unequal exchange took shape that created a transfer of value to the imperialist centers. This encouraged capitalists in the periphery to resort to the superexploitation of workers – harsh working conditions where wages fall below what is needed to reproduce their labor power. In this way, the economies of Latin America, which played a fundamental role in facilitating a new phase of the industrial revolution in western Europe, passed from the colonial condition only to be rendered economically “dependent,” or subordinated to imperialist economies. This unbalanced relationship, which nonetheless allows capitalists of both imperialist and dependent regions to profit, has been reproduced in successive international divisions of labor of world economy, and continues to inform the day-to-day life of Latin American workers and their struggles.
Written during an upsurge of class struggle in the region in the 1970s, and published here in English for the first time, the revelations inscribed in this foundational essay are proving more relevant than ever. The Dialectics of Dependency is an internationalist contribution from one Latin American Marxist to dispossessed and oppressed people struggling the world over, and a gift to those who struggle from within the recesses of present-day imperialist centers—nourishing today’s efforts to think through the definition of “revolution” on a global scale.
200 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 1, 2022
5 people are currently reading
243 people want to read
About the author
Ruy Mauro Marini
22 books17 followersEconomist and sociologist. Marini is internationally known as one of the creators of Dependency Theory. He is the author of the work "Dialéctica de la Dependencia" (Dialectic of Dependency), in which, using elements of the theory of economic development of Karl Marx adapted to the study of Latin American reality, he explains the necessity of overcoming the developmentalism of ECLAC. He was an activist of the Revolutionary Left Movement of Chile, becoming a member of the Central Community in 1972 and director of his theoretical journal Marxismo y Revolución.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 4, 2025
Usually skip introductions but the one prefacing the essay by the translator, Amanda Latimer, is great. Really grounds his conceptualisation of superexploitation and subimperialism. Both in terms of the debates of the time around development and dependency in Latin America, and his political engagement with POLOP in Brazil and MIR in Chile. Also provides a summary of his yet untranslated works.
Essay itself really clicks things into place and has me MDT pilled. To vulgarise it. It basically develops a concept of 'superexploitation' grounded in the three volumes of capital and a theory of dependency as rooted in both location in the world capitalist system (circulation) and regional class dynamics that have become embedded due to that location and reproduced themselves even as industrialisation took root (production).
Essay itself really clicks things into place and has me MDT pilled. To vulgarise it. It basically develops a concept of 'superexploitation' grounded in the three volumes of capital and a theory of dependency as rooted in both location in the world capitalist system (circulation) and regional class dynamics that have become embedded due to that location and reproduced themselves even as industrialisation took root (production).
July 25, 2023
Both financial muscle and military muscle are copiously used to elevate Global North capitalist core countries at the expense of the Global South, with the U.S. doing everything it can to maintain its place — more specifically, its multinational corporations’ place — at the apex of the pyramid. Yet it is not only these levers. Capitalism is also kept in place by structural forces. We can’t fully comprehend how the world capitalist system functions without studying its structure, which operates even when financial or military muscle is not at a given moment being directly applied.
This is where The Dialectics of Dependency intervenes, persuasively arguing that the roles of local bourgeoisies, and not only Northern imperialism (as important as that is), as well as unequal exchange resulting from a subordinate position within a global division of labor, are indispensable to understanding the fate of Global South workers and in particular Latin American underdevelopment.
Latin America was plundered throughout the colonial period, with Christopher Columbus inaugurating slavery, forcible precious-metal extraction and the genocide of native peoples. Formal independence for Latin American countries coincided with the Industrial Revolution, during which they “came to gravitate toward England” rather than each other. “Ignoring one another, the new countries would link themselves directly to the English metropole,” Professor Marini wrote, becoming suppliers of foodstuffs and raw materials while importing manufactured products. “Latin America developed in close consonance with the dynamics of international capital.” Colonial metals and “exotic goods” contributed to increased commodity flows and “paved the way” for large-scale industry in core capitalist countries.
English technological advances enabled significant increases in production and the ability to flood markets with commodities. With the displacement of farmers into cities and the creation of a modern proletariat, the incorporation of this new working class into consumption was “an essential step.” In turn, the supply of food from Latin America made it increasingly possible for English capitalism to reduce the value of labor power and thus “achieve a balance between increasing surplus value and, at the same time, increasing wages.” In contrast, “super-exploitation” — a drastic lowering of wages — was the means for Latin American capital to be competitive. Because Latin American production was largely for export, local capitalists did not have to create a local market and could keep wages at extraordinarily low levels because they did not need their workers to be able to buy the products they produce.
Unequal exchange gathered momentum and super-exploitation became the route for Latin American capitalists to maintain their profitability and their places in the global capitalist system. Rather than increase productivity or invest in new machinery, Latin American capitalists have relied on intensifying exploitation through suppressed wages, work speed-ups and increased working hours. While not discounting the very real role of imperialist capital, a key political conclusion of the Marxist theory of dependency is recognizing the “dominant classes’ [of Latin America] responsibility in reproducing dependency.” Local bourgeoisies earn substantial profits from this arrangement and have no incentive to change it.
In addition to the titular essay, the book also contains two framing essays and a biography. A reader should be forewarned that the titular essay is written in an abstract manner, which will likely lessen the potential audience. That would be a loss as the book is a valuable, and needed, addition to theory to help our collective understanding of unequal exchange and the roots of deep inequality among the countries of the world capitalist system. Anyone wishing to grasp this enduring international phenomenon would benefit from reading The Dialectics of Dependency. It is not always easy reading but working your way through sometimes difficult and abstract passages will be enriching for any activist seeking to understand how capitalism works.
The complete review of this book can be read here: Grasping dependency and under-development as structural, not simply a product of force.
This is where The Dialectics of Dependency intervenes, persuasively arguing that the roles of local bourgeoisies, and not only Northern imperialism (as important as that is), as well as unequal exchange resulting from a subordinate position within a global division of labor, are indispensable to understanding the fate of Global South workers and in particular Latin American underdevelopment.
Latin America was plundered throughout the colonial period, with Christopher Columbus inaugurating slavery, forcible precious-metal extraction and the genocide of native peoples. Formal independence for Latin American countries coincided with the Industrial Revolution, during which they “came to gravitate toward England” rather than each other. “Ignoring one another, the new countries would link themselves directly to the English metropole,” Professor Marini wrote, becoming suppliers of foodstuffs and raw materials while importing manufactured products. “Latin America developed in close consonance with the dynamics of international capital.” Colonial metals and “exotic goods” contributed to increased commodity flows and “paved the way” for large-scale industry in core capitalist countries.
English technological advances enabled significant increases in production and the ability to flood markets with commodities. With the displacement of farmers into cities and the creation of a modern proletariat, the incorporation of this new working class into consumption was “an essential step.” In turn, the supply of food from Latin America made it increasingly possible for English capitalism to reduce the value of labor power and thus “achieve a balance between increasing surplus value and, at the same time, increasing wages.” In contrast, “super-exploitation” — a drastic lowering of wages — was the means for Latin American capital to be competitive. Because Latin American production was largely for export, local capitalists did not have to create a local market and could keep wages at extraordinarily low levels because they did not need their workers to be able to buy the products they produce.
Unequal exchange gathered momentum and super-exploitation became the route for Latin American capitalists to maintain their profitability and their places in the global capitalist system. Rather than increase productivity or invest in new machinery, Latin American capitalists have relied on intensifying exploitation through suppressed wages, work speed-ups and increased working hours. While not discounting the very real role of imperialist capital, a key political conclusion of the Marxist theory of dependency is recognizing the “dominant classes’ [of Latin America] responsibility in reproducing dependency.” Local bourgeoisies earn substantial profits from this arrangement and have no incentive to change it.
In addition to the titular essay, the book also contains two framing essays and a biography. A reader should be forewarned that the titular essay is written in an abstract manner, which will likely lessen the potential audience. That would be a loss as the book is a valuable, and needed, addition to theory to help our collective understanding of unequal exchange and the roots of deep inequality among the countries of the world capitalist system. Anyone wishing to grasp this enduring international phenomenon would benefit from reading The Dialectics of Dependency. It is not always easy reading but working your way through sometimes difficult and abstract passages will be enriching for any activist seeking to understand how capitalism works.
The complete review of this book can be read here: Grasping dependency and under-development as structural, not simply a product of force.
October 13, 2025
Probabilmente lo avrei apprezzato di più se non fossi una persona naturalmente avversa ai testi di economia. Essendo più abituato ad un approccio sociologico e politologo alle teorie della dipendenza, purtroppo questa lettura non è proprio “my cup of tea”, e dico purtroppo perché ne riconosco l’importanza e ne apprezzo la tesi. Resta il fatto che Marini rimane un must read su questo argomento, quindi prima o poi avrei dovuto leggerlo.
May 30, 2023
While this book may have been a little bit above my theoretical level, I certainly enjoyed attempting to piece together these concepts and read such an intelligently written piece of writing. I also think it’s important that this book was translated into English because when it was only available in Spanish and Portuguese most of the English speakers that I know, including myself, had never heard of this prominent Latin American theorist. I hope to revisit this book one day when I have a more well-developed understanding of these concepts and enjoy it even more!
September 5, 2024
I liked it - not really sure if I “agree” with it exactly but it’s definitely one of the cleaner arguments relating to the question of super exploitation of the third world (although perhaps the ease with which I could understand this is conditioned by my having read and struggled with other texts of this sort, that and the fact that this is an intro) and considering the trajectory of some of the developmentalists and rival dependency types he is criticizing here I think his intervention proved to be quite necessary and definitely held up well. The intro was probably a little too long but some of the details were interesting. I am a little curious if he was in discussion with Fraginals as his thesis about the expansion of the Cuban sugar industry reaffirms the main argument here quite well in my opinion
June 4, 2024
One of the most important books in English for those interested in Latin American political economy.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews