Social urbanization and Caracas: a historical anthropological analysis.

Abstract

"The concept of 'social urbanization' is examined with reference to demographic, social, and cultural patterns in Caracas, Venezuela during the period 1870-1908. These patterns, responding to changes on the national and international level foreshadow, and in some cases are the beginnings of, present-day patterns. Changes in the relations between Caracas and the core states of Europe and North America are examined, as are significant changes in residence and marriage patterns." It is noted that "significant amounts of internal migration were occurring during this period, and it is suggested that structural linkages between Caracas and its surrounding hinterland were forged by the end of the nineteenth century. Finally, it is argued that 'social urbanization' is part of the wider global process of world-system transformation underway during the nineteenth century."