ESSAY: LIVING IN CHILE
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Contents:
1 Introduction
1.1 Subject
1.2 Scope
1.3 Purpose
2 Review of sources
3 Results and interpretation
3.1 Background
3.2 Social Security
3.3 Education
3.4 The Native population
4 Conclusion and Discussion
5 Sources
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1 Introduction
Chile is a country with a very interesting historical background. From being a model state, having the oldest democratical tradition of Latin America, Chile has been through a socialistic experiment and a cruel military dictatorship. Since 1989 Chile is once again a democracy. Chile has, of course been very affected by its past in many ways and this is one of the major reasons behind that it is such an interesting country to study. My first contacts with the country I got through a friend of mine, who was forced to flee from the country with his family during the dictatorship. Through this friend, Eduardo Villanueva-Contreras, I also got the opportunity to visit the country for about four weeks in October 1998. Therefore I have chosen to study Chile in my Special project.
1.1 SUBJECT
More accurately I have chosen to study the living conditions of the people of Chile. How the society of Chile is built up. This is of great interest because of the mentioned past of the country and the fact that the differences between poor and rich in the country is one of the greatest in the World.
1.2 SCOPE
With access to more material I could have written a very big thesis, but as required I have limited my scope as far as I thought was possible in order to achieve a relatively broad picture of the living conditions for people in Chile.
1.3 PURPOSE
The hypothesis I have based my Work on is:
Social and ethnical background plays a crucial role for people in Chile and their chances of success in the Chilean society.
This is because I have visited Chile and seen the absolute poverty that many people lives in. This, in combination with a neoliberal system, where you have to pay for everything, seems to be a very bad combination to me, at least if you want to fight poverty. In order to get a quite broad view of the situation to prove my hypothesis; I have chosen three questions that I will concentrate on answering:
1. What is the situation for ethnical minorities in Chile? 2. Is it possible to receive a good education without economical resources in Chile? 3. What social security does the Chilean society offer its citizens?
I think that together these questions pinpoint the most important areas to cover in order to answer my hypothesis. I will not be able to go deep into them, but together I think they will give a quite good answer to my hypothesis.
2 REVIEW OF SOURCES
I have used a variety of different sources. I have had use of my own experience from my visit in the country and I have also made three short interviews during my visit, included in appendix 1. When looking at the background of Chile today and the origins of its economical system it is hard to be objective. I have my own opinion about it but I have tried to stay as objective I can. I have found my sources to be reliable generally.
Stefan de Vylder is a national economist specialised on Latin America and Chile. He has been considered to be left wing but in my opinion he has always been objective in his essays and reports. His is highly respected as an expert on Latin America today and often heard on the Swedish radio. The books I have read are quite old, and therefore they have not contributed as much as the newer sources as Chile is a country that is developing at a fast pace.
David Isaksson is a Swedish freelance journalist specialised on Latin America. He is also known through radio, newspapers and magazines. Stefan Strömberg has a similar background, being a freelancing journalist specialised on Latin America. “Chile –på väg eller på drift” is published på the “Swedish Institute Of International Affairs”. That gives the book some reliability. I consider both his books and David Isaksson to be quite objective. The official site of Chile gives the impression of propaganda. It creates an impression of Chile as a very well developed country. It is saying the country have minimum wages established by law, social security including free medical care and are putting great emphasis on education. It does not give any numbers though. The minimum wage is really low (I do not know the exact minimum wage as it does not state.), The free medical care is of low standard and it does not matter how many school-development-programs they have if there is no money put into them. I don’t know how much money is put into the programs as the web page does not state.
3 RESULTS AND INTERPRETATION
3.1 Background
As background to my subject I would like to discuss the economical situation of Chile in a general perspective. Since 1984 has had an economical growth of 6,6 percent in average, every year. In 1997 the growth rate was 7.1 percent. On international level Chile is often referred to as an “economical wonder”. Poverty is decreasing in extent, but very slow and not as fast as the wealth of the rich people of Chile is growing. The wealthy and the poor live in two separate worlds (Strömberg). They can live their whole lives hardly meeting each other. After the Coup in 1973, the socialist Chile became the neoliberal Chile. State property was sold out to the highest bidding. Chile was to be “Unpoliticised”, with the market as a mean to decide everything instead (De Vylder, 1988). All this lead to a very unstable economy, an economy that went from crisis to crisis. In 1983 some restrictions to the market was imposed. After this the economy improved. Therefore it is possible to say that the dictatorship started the progress against the economical growth. But it can also be said that the people of Chile have had to pay dearly for it. The unemployment tripled almost over a night when to new system came into practice (Strömberg, 1997). A lot of people fell into absolute poverty.
After the reinstatement of democracy in 1989 the people Chile hoped to see their situation being improved. This has happened too, but in a quite small extent. Chile’s constitution is still the one created by Pinochet and his influence remains strong. The neoliberal system remains quite unchanged even though some reforms have been made. In 1996 24 percent of the population lives in absolute poverty, compared to 40 percent in 1989. The unemployment is also quite low today, only 6,1 percent today (official figures, 1998), but this is not as good as you might think, as “micro enterprising” is very common. This means that people are making their living as, for example, shoe polishers and ice-cream salesmen on buses. This means that they can still be incredibly poor. Also, the youth-unemployment is 16-17 percent, and in poor areas 30-35 percent (Strömberg, 1997). 60 percent of the nations total income goes to the richest fifth of the population while the poorest fifth only receives 5 percent. The current Christian democratic government considers the fighting of rising inflation as very important and strives to achieve an inflation that does not exceed the growth rate of the GNP. This practically limits the possibility of investments in public services. Some investments have been made though, as the state has increased their tax-income.
More basic facts:
? Today the population of Chile is about 14,5 millions. ? The population growth rate is 1,7 percent per year. ? 2 percent of the population are white, 6 percent are Indians and 92 percent are Mestizos. ? 86 percent of the population lives in cities. ? 95 percent of the population are able to read and write.
Source: Chile-Länder i fickformat (from the Institute of Foreign Affairs in Sweden) I have found sources stating very different figures when it comes to the division of people between White-Indian-Mestizo, I guess it depends on where you draw the line whether a person is White or a Mestizo. I think it is sad that people are divided up into ethnical group is that way.
3.2 Social security
In 1981 a reform was made in Chile –creating a social security system for working Chileans. To working Chileans the about 5 million Chileans that have a formal job are included. 90 percent of these Chileans participate in the system. These workers pay an amount of their salary (for now 13%) to a special fund of their choice. For this they get a pension. Should the collected sum be to low. The state guarantees a minimum pension (Official internet source,1999). This is a very low one though. There is an obligatory insurance for accidents or illness, paid by the employer.
Those who are unemployed or informally employed are not granted any of the above mentioned social security (i.e. the almost 10 million other inhabitants).
There are both public and private hospitals. The public ones are free and open to everybody, while the private ones takes a fee for their treatment. The public hospitals are few and not very good. People have to wait a long time for treatment and they do not get medicine if it is not absolutely necessary. The personnel on these hospitals are given lower salaries and that results in that the best employees often are recruited to the private clinics. A doctor is often given a salary twice as high on a private clinic. On these clinics the treatment is often expensive. But you are given a treatment of a much higher standard.
3.3 Education
The dictatorship meant hard times for a system of education that had been prioritised during the government of Allende. Especially the countryside schools became very negatively affected (Isaksson, 1991)
Today Chile is a country that in comparison with other Latin American countries are spending quite much on the educational system. However, the level still remains very small in comparison with western countries like Sweden. This is at least partly due to that Chile is still far beyond the developed western economies in development. In 1996 almost 15 percent of the annual budget was put into the educational system (official figures). The government has declared education to one of its highest priorities, but I it is clear that they will not let this go out over their economic growth rate.
School is compulsory for 8 years. There is a school fee. Chile has three categories of schools: tuition-free and publicly financed; government-funded and privately run; and wholly private, for-fee schools.
About 95 percent of children between 6 and 13 attend elementary school and 85 percent of children between 14 and 17 attend middle school. The ratio of attendance varies from place to place. In poorer regions and on the countryside the attendance is in general much lower than in cities and richer areas.
They have launched two different projects in order to develop their educational system. The first is called “The 900 School Program” This program aims to develop the 10 percent of Chilean schools that serve the country’s poorest communities. These are to receive more material and other resources. How much the source does not state, therefore it is impossible how much this program will affect the schools. The other program is more general. It is aimed at all schools supported by the state. This involves free textbooks and funds to start local projects in order to make education more interesting to the children. The schools are free to form their courses very independently so that it will suit the needs and interests of the children. Emphasis is put on the scientific subjects. Whether the independence is good or bad can be discussed. The aim seems to be to get the children to go to school and there they may succeed in motivating students to go to school, if that is the problem. Money is also put into developing a working computer network between the schools.
Universities
Like the basic school, there are two different types of universities, private and state run. The State universities do not cost anything. There are not many state universities considering the size of Chile’s population today. Therefore far from everyone are able to go to these schools. The standard is acceptable but the university buildings are often worn down and there is a lack of funds. Claudio Dias, a teacher at the historical faculty of the State university of Valparaiso is worried that the state will privatise the state universities too –and that is why the government is unwilling to give any more funds to the universities (appendix 1). The government has not made any such privatisations yet, and has not said they will. The private universities offer for fee education. The standards of those are very varying. Many private universities have been forced to close down because of bad economy lately, but there are still many that competes for the students.
Actually, the state-run universities have a higher status among students. This is because of the fact that there are so few that actually gets to go there. In order to be accepted you have to make a test that is very difficult. The poor who do not pass the test have no other possibility to go to university. Those that can afford it can go to a private university instead. But it is less status to do so as you are considered to be “one of those that did not pass the test and therefore had to pay for their education”. On the labour market it is known of the high standard of the students at the state universities so it is considered to be a better qualification to have gone to a state university then a private. There is, however, an exception to this: In Santiago there are some very expensive universities that only the very richest can go to. They have the very best teachers and almost infinite resources.
A factor that really separates rich from poor when it comes to chances of university studies is the so called pre-universities. These are private institutions that offer preparatory studies on evening time. Those who can afford goes to these schools in order to prepare for the test required to be accepted to the universities.
3.4 The Indian population
Around 6 percent of the population of Chile are Indians. That is a relatively large portion of the population in comparison with many other Latin American countries. For example, in Colombia, only 1 percent of the population consists of Indians.
The Indians are spread over the whole country, both in cities and on the countryside. I have found that they are generally discriminated in the society. The bad situation for the Indians dates back to the very beginning of the conquest of Chile. When the Indian people finally lost the struggle for the territory that came to be the nation Chile the same happened her that has happened on so many other places. The Indians became a subordinate people. Forced to move and work and live under very bad conditions and being seen as lower than ordinary people.
Today the pattern remains the same. The Indians are generally very poor and are regarded as less worth on the labour market. This is an evil-circle that results in that many Indians never get the opportunity to establish a life within the Chilean society, nor live their own lives outside of it. A German in the small town San Felipe, north of Santiago, told me that he had found that many people still do not consider the Indians to be worth as much as ordinary people in the town. Some people I met seems to want to deny the Indians existence within the Chilean society, their right to be a part of it. The Mapuches and other Indians are also reacting in a similar way towards the other Chilean people. This creates tensions with hate from extremists from both sides that threatens the integration of the Indian people into society. On the other hand integration can result in that Indian culture is lost. This is one of the biggest concerns of Jose Cebolla Patada that is active within the organisation CONACIN (Appendix 1). CONACIN co-ordinates the strife among Indians for their rights. They act as representatives for the Indians and strive to make other people understand the Indians situation.
4 Conclusion and Discussion
I feel that I have proven my hypothesis by answering my questions. In Chile you are born with dramatically different possibilities of career and success.
Education:
If you have money you have access to good schools and good enough preparation for the university test, enabling possibility for further education. If you fail you can always pay and get the education anyway.
If you do not have much money and live in one the poorer areas you grow up in a rough environment that do not encourage studies. You go to a school financed by the state, where the quality of the education is varying and often of low standard. Many are not going to school, as they can see no meaning in doing so. Others are forced to work instead in order to survive and support the family. For those who finish their free education there is a possibility of doing the test required to gain entry to the state-universities. The competition of the limited places at the university is very hard. The poor student have to compete with wealthier students who have received a better education at a private and probably have been studying night-time at the various, expensive, institutions that prepares for the university-test. These wealthier students often have a better support from home as well.
Ethnical background:
If you are white you are generally very well respected. I noticed that black hair was looked upon as less good, even though the great majority of the Chileans have black hair naturally. All commercials had girls with all different hair-colours -but not black. This illustrates the differences among “normal” people and does not affect chances of career as much. What I have tried to see in the essay is whether the Indians are competing with the same conditions as other Chileans on the labour market and other parts of society. My observations during my country strongly suggested that the Indians were not treated equally and so did my further research prove. As an Indian you are looked upon as a lesser human being. This makes it very hard for new generations of Indians to break the evil circle of poverty and mistrust. Hence, your ethnical background strongly influences your chances of success in the society of Chile.
Social security:
Though I could not get any detailed figures on the social security system I think I have managed to get a pretty good overview of it. As I mentioned earlier around 90 percent the workforce consisting of about 5 million Chileans have a working pension system and all employers have to pay for health insurance for their employees, but what about the rest of the population? Of the official labour force 500’000 lacks rights to pensions? And the 10 million Chileans not being included in the labour force. Some of them are children and some are retired, but hardly everyone. My guess would be that many of them are women and workers without a formal employment. Thus they lack both pensions and insurance if something happen at work or somewhere else.
When it comes to medical care you will receive treatment as good as in any Western country really fast, if you have money to pay for yourself. If you are poor you will have to wait because lack of hospitals and personnel and when you finally get treatment it is of low standard and hasty, as so many others are waiting for their turn.
Hence, being born in a good family gives you good chances of success, if you are poor your chances are much worse. If you add to that that you are an Indian, then there is a great chance that you will spend the rest of your life in poverty.
As a conclusion I would say that Chile is a country developing very fast, especially when it comes to the economy. The living standard of people in general is improving as well, but not at the same pace as the economy. In this area Chile is still a third World country and if the development in this area does not increase it will remain so for a long time, no matter how high the country’s gross national product is.
There are many ways to continue the research on the subject. More factors can bee included or you can go deeper into some of the three subjects that I concentrated on (School-Social security-Ethnical minorities). My biggest problem was to find sources that had figures and statistics, as they often describe the subjects in a quite general manner. I could have asked the embassy for up to date statistics. I regret that I did not do that from the beginning. Because of this I often failed to give the thesis the depth I would have liked to have. But I think I have managed to give a quite good overview of the situation in the country, concerning the three involved subjects.
5 Sources:
Interviews made by the author October-November 1998, contained in appendix 1.
Books (In Swedish):
De Vylder, Stefan. Chile –femton år av diktatur. 1988.
De Vylder, Stefan. Chile inför 90-talet -en makroekonomisk översikt. 1990.
Isaksson, David. Utbildning för frihet. 1991.
Isaksson, David. Chile. 1991.
Strömberg, Stefan. Chile –på väg eller på drift? 1997.
Strömberg, Stefan. Chile –på vilken sida drömmarna? 1997.
Internet:
Official information-site of Chile (99-03-17): http://www.segegob.cl/seg-ingl/
Tillbaks till Chile-sidan