Castes, Classes and Social Stratification

Chile is, on the one hand, the most modern country in Latin America and has relatively low levels of poverty. On the other hand Chile shows the second worst distribution of wealth in the region (after Brazil). So while the richest 10 percent of the population obtains 46.1 percent of the national income, the poorest 10 percent has only 1.4 percent of the national income.

While color does not constitute the main source of social discrimination in Chile, class does. In contrast to many other Latin American countries, most Chileans constantly think and act in terms of traditional class divisions (largely expressed as lower, middle, and upper).  Entrance to a university is based on the points one obtains at a single national academic test. Even though someone from a lower class can get into a university and go on to get a good job does not automatically guarantee social acceptance among the middle and upper classes. The same is true for people from lower class origins who have made money and live in middle- or upper-class neighborhoods. They are often disdainfully called rotos con plata ("vulgar people with money"). Generally, it can be stated that most Chileans of European roots belong to the upper and middle classes, while most Chileans of mestizo and indigenous backgrounds belong to the lower classes.

In larger cities, classes are spatially segregated. Upper, middle, and lower classes live largely isolated from each other in very distinctive neighborhoods and city sections. Also, primary and secondary schools express social stratification. Chileans automatically categorize a person socially based only on the comuna (municipal division within the city) where the person lives and the name of the school he or she has attended.

Speech is another important marker of social stratification. Upper-class Chileans exaggerate their particular way of speaking to indicate their social predominance. On the other end of the social ladder, lower-class Chileans speak in a very idiosyncratic way. Chileans are so speech-conscious that even the slightest difference in pronunciation of some consonants immediately "betrays" social background.