Inequality

Latin America is characterized by high social inequality. This inequality is not only expressed in a pronounced asymmetry in the distribution, access, and consumption of material resources, but it is profoundly more complex due to its multi-dimensionality and its inter-sectionality. These social inequalities regularly create conflicts that often lead to deep political, social, and ecological crises.

Natural resources have played a vital role in the history of Latin America and have molded the configuration and scale of social inequalities in the region. Since Colonization, the exploitation and exports of raw materials like silver, copper, soy and crude oil have shaped societies, political systems as well as the national economies of the continent. In this regard, the wealth of natural resources in Latin America, its significance for the world market and, most importantly, recurring resource revenues have stirred up hopes and expectations regarding economic development.

Latin America is a showcase for a severe asymmetry in the distribution of income and wealth. Compared to other regions of the world, the concentration of land, income and property in Latin America is stagnating on a relatively high level. This constellation reflects a historically persistent, multidimensional and intersectional inequality.