In this week’s materials, we have seen how the notion of progress and the restructuring of society into an export-oriented economy were alternately beneficial and harmful to different classes within the same society. Although more wealth was brought into the region with the onset of industrialization, the vast majority of it was distributed to those who were already on top of the social hierarchy. This was especially true as rural workers saw their land taken from them and their accustomed livelihoods no longer possible.

The various revolutions that have characterized the history of Latin America all seem to come as a response to mounting inequalities and limited work options. As Dawson brought up, it is difficult to say when these revolutions ended, and in many instances political leaders today still claim to be representing a revolution from the early twentieth century. This makes the idea of picking the “winner” of a revolution the wrong way to approach this. Nevertheless, by looking at Latin America today, we can see some of the long-term effects of the revolutionaries.

Today in Latin America, labor conditions have improved greatly as the twentieth century went on, although there is still certainly much work to be done. However, to me it seems that the modes of thinking of the nature of progress are unchanged. Around the world, including in Latin America, societal progress is still largely thought of in absolute economic terms, and a drive to export still dominated the economy.

The series of revolutions has had profound effects on the social structuring of Latin America. The clearest example of this is in the geographical concentration of entire populations. The social pressure from these upheavals, combined with a number of other processes (such as industrial jobs being available only in cities and increased linkages between Latin America and North America—both of which were key points of conflict during the revolutions) has resulted in a predominantly urban society in Latin America.

According to United Nations data from 2014, Latin America is among the most urbanized regions of the world. Today, roughly 80% of the total population is urban, up from only 40% in 1950. After the agrarian revolts in early twentieth-century Mexico, where peasants fought fiercely to take back their farms and return to their ‘traditional’ ways of life, today Mexico is urbanizing rapidly. In Argentina, where the conflict between “urban civilization” and “rural barbarism” has existed for centuries, it seems clear which side has won, as modern Argentina is one of the most heavily urbanized states on the planet, with over 90% of all people living in cities.