Colombia: A Country Report

26 Pages 6462 Words

tructures in which change of status is very difficult. In recent decades, social mobility has not been as difficult as prior years.
Four classes and their relative proportions can be distinguished: upper class, 5 percent; middle class, 20 percent; lower class, 50 percent; and the masses, 25 percent. There are also two important transitional subdivisions: the new rich, who constitute perhaps 3 percent of the total and the upper lower class, organized blue-collar workers, and poorer white-collar workers, who made up about 15 percent of the total.
Classes are distinguished by occupation, life-style, income, family background, education, and power. Within each of the classes, there are numerous subtle degrees in status. Colombians tend to be extremely status-conscious, and class membership is an important aspect of social life because it regulates the interaction of groups and individuals. Social class boundaries are far more flexible in the city than in the countryside, but consciousness of status and class distinctions continued to permeate s...