Consistent modernization yet persistent inequality: Elite's reactions to poverty in Brazil, Uruguay and India

In this paper we aim to capture the political implications of inequality in three cases of late modernization: Brazil, Uruguay and India. We focus on elites’ public statements on poverty by sampling opinion articles on the subject in the main newspapers in those countries in the past decade. Our findings are then compared to previous survey data among strategic elites. Although these cases present classical characteristics of late modernization, such as urbanization, industrialization and democratization, social inequality persist as a major source of political and social problems. Survey data shows that Latin American elites see inequality as an obstacle to democracy, but not always to development. We test if that is the case for Brazil and Uruguay and compare them to the Indian case, where democratic stability has a longer tradition, despites social inequality. Did the risks of inequality contributed in the direction of making elites more open to redistributive policies? Following the theoretical approach suggested by de Swaan (1988) and Reis (2000), we seek to understand the moral basis of elites’ reaction over inequality in these developing societies.  We argue that political engagement depends also on the cultural tools mobilized to relate with the poor and that the ideological frame can either reinforce the boundaries between elite and non-elite actors or help internalize perceptions of social interdependence that can lead to more equality and, therefore, to social development.