Description
"Sharing with other radical government leaders, such as Castro, Nyerere, Mao, and Allende, the common goal of developing a new political consciousness in their countries, General Juan Velasco Alvarado claimed to be leading Peru toward a "fully participatory social democracy" from 1968 to 1975. To determine the extent to which this was true or even feasible, Cynthia McClintock examines Peru's peasants. This is the first study to apply to the topics of workplace democracy or change in political culture both "before" and "after" sample survey data as well as long-term participant observation. The author shows that, within the self-managed enterprises studied, new patters of political participation and social solidarity did develop and did so rather rapidly. Peasants' loyalties and commitments, however, were focused upon their individual enterprise and did not extend beyond it. Professor McClintock compares Peru's experience with self-management to that of Chile, Mexico, and Yugoslavia, considering social, political and economic dimensions. She concludes that the greatest problem confronting a reform government is not that of an intractable, traditional or timid peasantry, but rather that of creating new political and economic structures that offer significant incentives for change"--from back cover.
