I have never done one of these group posts before, but I thought I would give it a shot since this topic interests me. I do have to say that while I understand how Racism and Classism are related, I also think they are two totally separate issues. Mostly because Chile has practically no diversity. And yes, the indigenous people (and Peruvians/Bolivians) end up at the bottom of the totum pole, but thats not what I want to discuss.
Classism is such an integral part of Chilean society. And its so visual. My friends can see someone walking down the street and without ever talking to them they could tell you if they are flaite, or cuico. I also have some friends, as ignorant as they are, who dont like to go below plaza italia because its "too dangerous". Ridiculous.
But I think this very obvious and structured class structure makes it difficult for Chileans. If you are born middle-upper class. You are going to be labled that forever. And that means there are certain jobs you can have and certain jobs you can´t have. For example, this middle-upper class person can never wait tables or wash dishes to make a living. While to me, a gringa, it seems that if you are working thats the respectible thing, its not the same in Chile. You can only have jobs that correspond to your class level. If you are middle-upper class and you take a job as a waiter or waitress, society and your peers will look down on you.
Its hard for me to undertand all of this, since in the US anyone can have any kind of job, and I feel like class is not really an issue. Education defines our social structures instead of class. But here, I feel that for many chileans class is something that limits them and controls them.
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Hello! Welcome to the group blog and thanks for your comments.
I agree that Chile does not have diversity in the way that we do in the states of having people from all over. However, I think racial differences can be seen in skin color-- which Chileans are very in tune to. So, if someone is lighter skinned they are seen as higher class. For example, in my host family (who I have had as my host family for over a dozen years) one sister came out very light skinned and the other very dark. They get treated extremely differently in public and peoples reactions are different. Since they grew up in the same neighborhood, house, with similar clothing and speech patterns-- I can only think that skin color is the difference.
I also agree that the class system makes it very hard for people to move up or down from their class. It is institutionalized in ways of school systems, job prospects, etc.
Also, I would argue that in the US not everyone can have any job. Take a white girl from the suburbs with no college education but a fairly good health coverage growing up. Then compare her to a black student from the city (who may have been bused into the same school as the white girl) but did not have same health coverage and therefore never got braces and has crooked teeth. The latter is going to have a hard time getting a job because of physical appearance. Whereas the former will do well and could get a job as secretary, admissions officer in a hospital, clerical jobs, etc. Class plays out in the US in defining jobs by basic things-- people who have to use the bus are statistically more likely to lose their job because they have less control over getting to work on time. The thing is, I think we are taught not to talk about class and therefore it becomes invisible.
I agree with Clare. In Chile race and class are linked. Just take the term "indio" which not only is derogatory for someone of indigenous decent, but can also mean a dark-skinned person from a lower-social class.
Thanks for posting!!
I would say that class and race are only partially linked, but the source of discrimination is not race but class. While there is a high correlation between race and class, that is, it is very likely that a darker skinned person is lower class, there are other markers that are definitive and allow for no exceptions, such as speech. Skin color is a fairly good marker of class but is not infallible. A dark skinned person whose speech makes evident that he or she is upper class, will not be discriminated even if they may be nicknamed with a non-derogatory "negro". Take the Piñera family for example, and like them, many other upper class dark skinned individuals. In every classroom of the most exclusive schools in Santiago you will find someone who is called "negro" or "negra", but will not be considered lower class or different in any respect. On the other hand, your skin can be milk white, but if you speak like a low class chilean, you will be discriminated in jobs, denied access to clubs, and looked down upon. Again, as skin color is a good but not infallible indicator, being pale skinned and better yet, blue eyed, will allow someone to get away with passing for upper middle class, but as soon as speech makes evident a lower class origin, doors will be slammed on his face.
Classism and racism in Chile is so old that is almost part of the culture. Maybe a dark corner of our culture, but some things must be told, no matter how stinky they are.
The Conquistadores were mostly Spanish vasque. Modern Vasques look like Irish, Spaniards look like Italians, so it's no surprise that their first chronicles about the local "indios" were not more flattering than the notes Darwin wrote, when he met the Onas and Yagans for the 1st time.
Indios were labeled as dirty, primitive, they were outlaws of religion and morality for being naked, having many wives. They didnt have alphabet, religion or work ethic.
For Protestant morality, indios lacked any sense of duty or will to improve themselves. They just hung in their tiny tents or boats, eating garbage, looking like garbage. They actually learned to live in sync with Nature, so they just didn't fell the need to get up earlier to hunt more food and save for tomorrow.
First impressions are usually the strongest, and further info does only a marginal change in our first picture. How many blacks should earn the Nobel Prize to make Americans stop thinking they're all criminals? How many Mapuche CEOs, Science experts, movie stars and mag models do we need to watch, to start feeling proud of our mapuche heritage?
Women played the big role in the current classism: Spaniards imposed a 2-class society, where they were of course at the top, taking all resources, and the dirty indios bacome servants at the bottom. So the "Indias" quickly realized that marrying a Spaniard meant walking up the ladder, using their oldest trade currency: sex.
This explains our inherited concept that being white means being clean, hard working, rich and successful, andbeing indigenous equals all the opposite : Spaniards arranged the contest to make them always win and the indios lose, and did it for 300 years, more than enough to brainwash any country.
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