Lumpenbourgeoisie: Lumpendevelopment: Dependence, Class, and Politics in Latin America

by André Gunder Frank

English, Spanish (translation)

Genres: Nonfiction, History

151 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

André Gunder Frank was Professor of Development Economics and Director of the Institute for Socioeconomic Studies at the University of Amsterdam. His publications include Capitalism and Underdevelopment in Latin America (1967) and Reflections on the World Economic Crisis (1981).

Reviews

[Roberto Yoed]

An interesting book that compiles data available to prove that, since the Spanish conquest until today, with USA imperialism, in Latin America there has been a capitalist dependency.

I’m not sure if the term “lumpen” really applies, but I get Gunder’s argument.

I really recommend this essay to anyone that wants to read a good historical synthesis of how Latin America governments have betrayed the people, specially in Argentina, Brasil and Mexico only to have small benefits compared to the international capitals.

[David]

Much quicker read than expected, a concise historical explanation of underdevelopment in Latin America bridging the gap between dependency theory and theories of unequal development and the world system. I think Frank is actually weakest when writing on his own. The concept of the "lumpenbourgeoisie" is nebulous when notions of comprador bourgeoisie already existed, but I understand where he's going. You get the seeds of Frank's unique long view of the world system in how far back he starts, though this is common in Amin and Wallerstein as well.

[Jojo De veyra]

Classic. Must-read. Must re-read.