Rural Sociology: Official Journal of the Rural Sociological Society 53:399-420. CLASS CONFLICT OR ETHNIC OPPRESSION? The Cost of Being Indian in Rural Bolivia*

This is my final copy of the MS but may miss minor changes done subsequently at the journal. Pagination differs from that in the journal. 1 Discrimination on the basis of race, religion or ethnicity appears to exist in many societies throughout the world. That subordinate ethnic groups have worse jobs and lower incomes is incontrovertible. But discovering whether these differences are created by discrimination rather than the natural working of economic forces is difficult and has produced a major literature on ethnic differences in industrial societies. But little is known about the less developed, predominantly rural societies where the majority of the world's population still live. This paper addresses the question for a society where ethnic differences loom as large as anywhere in the world, rural Bolivia, using data from a large, representative sample survey. The great inequalities between Indian and Spanish – far overshadowing differences between blacks and whites in the US – were originally ethnic. But now educational differences are rooted entirely in class differences, not ethnicity: Indian and Spanish sons born into comparable families get the same amount of schooling. Occupational success comes in very different ways for Indians, for whom father's occupation is crucial, than for Spaniards, for whom education is crucial. But despite this dual labor market, occupational differences are rooted in class, not ethnicity. So are differences in standard of living. Before the revolution of 1952, Spanish sons had a small advantage that could not be explained by class; after the revolution, Indian sons had a slight advantage; but throughout recent history, class dominates. These results suggest five general hypotheses about the links between economic development, political power, and exploitation.