Papers - Conference 2009 - Institute of Latin American Studies

1990). However certain authors argue that elites, even if in different time periods, have alwaysbeing rather similar among each other.“[I]n the past, as they are today, the elites of the wealthy and powerful were always morecosmopolitically inclined than the rest of the population of the lands they inhabited; at alltimes they tended to create a culture of their own which made little of the same bordersthat held fast for lesser folk; they had more in common with elites across the borders thanwith the rest of the population inside them” (Bauman, 12. 1998).Although Bauman‟s statement implies that elites were always alike in their cultures, suchsimilarity might have grown in the past years with the “intensification of worldwide socialrelations which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by eventsoccurring many miles away and vice-versa” (Giddens 1990) called Globalization. Furthermorethe global elite establishment, or its intensification, can be also considered an aftermath of theeconomical system adopted by most of the nations following the URSS‟ extinction, a fullydevelopment of global capitalism, through the world wide economic and cultural increasinglyinteraction, as an effect of the „late capitalism‟ (Jameson 1984).d. ’THE LOST DECADE’ IN BRAZILGoing back to Brazilian society, but keeping the same time frame, the 80s and early 90s werealso particularly significant to our discussion for both its chronological proximity with nowadaysscenario and its economical aspect in Latin America. Most of the region suffered with severeindustrial production reductions that lead to an economical depression with volatility of markets,problems of external solvency, low GDP growth and extremely high rates of inflation 6 . ToBrazilian population such picture was translated to high unemployment rate and loss ofconsumption power. During this period, that is considered by many the Lost Decade in LatinAmerica (Ayau, 1989), foreign goods were not just considered of superior quality, due thescrapped national industry at the time, but also unaffordable by most of Brazilian population –trait that turned the link between Brazilian elite to Europe and North America culture even moreevident. Moreover, one would say that such situation also lowered the Brazilian proud that was6 During the 80’s, Brazilian inflation had an average of 330% a year. While from 1990 to 1994 (before theimplantation of the Plano Real) the average reached 764% per year (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografian e Estatistica– IBGE).8