The People of Puerto Rico A Study in Social Anthropology

275 Pages·1956·28.06 MB·English

by  Steward

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College of Social Sciences, University of Puerto Rico

University ofIllinois Press, 1956
In 1947 the University of Puerto Rico wished to
have a study made of the social anthropology of the
Puerto Rican people. This study was one of many re­
search projects carried on by the University of Puerto
Rico to further an understanding of the varied social,
economic, geographical, and other social science
aspects of Puerto Rican life. It was part of a larger
effort, supported by the Puerto Rican government
through the University of Puerto Rico under its able
chancellor. Dr. Jaime Benitez, to bring the skills and
techniques of modern social science to bear upon social
and economic problems of Puerto Rico.
The present study was proposed by Clarence Senior,
then director of the university’s Center of Social Sci­
ence Investigations and now of Columbia University,
to Julian H. Steward, then professor of anthropology
at Columbia University and now of the University of
Illinois. Further encouragement to undertake the study
was given when the Rockefeller Foundation, through
its director of research. Dr. Roger Evans, agreed to
support the project on the grounds that cultural anal­
ysis of a complex and fairly populous yet delimited
area such as Puerto Rico could contribute to the
theory and method of interdisciplinary area studies
which are now being carried on at many institutes of
area research.
The project was undertaken with some hesitation,
however, for a study of the lifeways of two million
people is a large order for anthropologists who have
traditionally been concerned principally with com­
paratively small societies and simple cultures. It is
particularly forbidding when the society, like Puerto
© 1936 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
Rico, is highly literate and includes many well-trained.
Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 36-3682
PREFACE Vll
VI the people of PUERTO RICO
interpretation will not be great provided our analyses and now on the faculty of Michigan State University, Luis Rivera Santos of the Planning Board; Dr. Guil­
perspicacious individuals whose deep understandings
are viewed with reference to our basic methodology— East Lansing, Michigan. lermo Serra, of the Extension Service, Department of
of their own distinctive cultural traditions surpass
to our objectives, our selection of data in relation to Dr. Eric R. Wolf, then of Columbia University and Agriculture; Sr. Francisco Verdiales, of the Labor
what any outsider could grasp in less than many years
problems, and our methods of interrelating data now Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University Department.
of residence and study. During the past two decades,
however, anthropology has devised methods for deal­ which are explained in the Introduction. of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia. We owe a very special debt to friends in the com­
The project was financed in equal parts by the The staff was assisted in the field research by Sra. munities without whose hospitality and unending
ing with a society such as Puerto Rico which can give
University of Puerto Rico and the Rockefeller Founda­ Delia Ortega de Pabón, Charles Rosario, Sra. Angelina efforts on our behalf our field studies would not have
insights into selected segments of the population with­
out requiring omniscience concerning all aspects of the tion, the grants being sufficient to keep some ten re­ Saavedra Roca, and Edwin Seda of the University of been possible. Sidney Mintz would like to express his
search workers in the field for nineteen months. In Puerto Rico. We wish to state most appreciatively gratitude to his compadres. Taso and Eli. Elena
national culture and of its history. It has developed
the "community study” method, a term loosely applied addition to the field research, the Social Science Re­ that the splendid co-operation of these Puerto Ricans, Padilla Seda wants to give her special thanks to José
search Center financed a special study of the cultural who know their country well and who paved the way F. Reyes. Eric R. Wolf would like to express his
to the cultural analysis of small, specialized and usu­
history of Puerto Rico, which was made by Raymond for the North American members of the field research deep appreciation to Francisco José Lamoso Coira,
ally localized segments of the society. Simultaneously,
Scheele before the main project began. The Council teams, was a major factor in the success of the study. to Ramona González de Lamoso, and to Don Antonio
anthropology has needed to broaden its frame of
for Research in the Social Sciences of Columbia Uni­ The field work was also greatly assisted by the Ayala and his family.
reference, to view its subject matter in the larger con­
versity also contributed to the project through pay­ wives of two members of the project staff, Mrs. Kath­ We also acknowledge our great indebtedness to
text of modern nations, because it has also been par­
ing most of the traveling expenses of the director, leen Wolf, then of the New York School of Social the officials of the towns, the government agencies and
ticipating with its fellow social sciences and with the
Workt and Mrs. Margaret Manners, to both of whom many business organizations. Among these must be
humanities in new interdisciplinary approaches to Julian H. Steward.
The project was assisted, though not closely directed, deep gratitude is due. mentioned the Land Authority, the Experimental
contemporary world areas.
by an Advisory Committee consisting of Julian H. We also express our debt to several persons who Station of the University of Puerto Rico, the Agri­
We were convinced, therefore, that through inten­
Steward, Clarence Senior, and John Murra.' During' participated in many of our discussions and who even cultural Extension Service of the 'U.S. Department
sive analysis of the lifeways and of .the historical
the initial months of the field work, John Murra, then found time to carry on some field research but whose of Agriculture, the Statistical Division of the Depart­
backgrounds of certain selected segments or subcul­
visiting professor of anthropology at the University other duties did not permit them to complete major ment of Labor, the Coffee Growers’ Cooperative, the
tural groups of the Puerto Rican population we could
of Puerto Rico, was field director, but subsequently studies. Robert Armstrong, then visiting professor of Central Aguirre Associates and its landholding affili­
provide systematic descriptions and functional and
his teaching duties prevented his continuing the task anthropology at the University of Puerto Rico, made ate, Luce and Co.
historical analyses and insights. While our more
and Julian Steward assumed direction of all phases a partial study of Caguas, a growing urban center Special gratitude is due four persons for their help­
thoughtful Puerto Rican friends are undoubtedly
of the research during the remainder of the study which is of interest partly because it is the head­ ful criticism of considerable portions of the manu­
aware of much of the substance of our material, there
and of the preparation of the materials for publica­ quarters of a new and very interesting class of “chauf­ script. Dr. Charles Wagley and Dr. Conrad Arens-
has been no systematic account placed on record so
tion. The project members wish to express their deep feurs,” men who operate their own cars as a kind of berg of Columbia University and Dr. Elman Service
as to be generally available to persons interested in
gratitude to Clarence Senior for his part in initiating bus service between towns throughout the island. of the University of Michigan carefully read the
problems of cultural origins and change. We were con­
and furthering the research and to John Murra for Isabel Caro joined the project for several months to studies of the rural communities which were submitted
fident that we could illuminate these selected subcul­
giving generously of his time and efforts in helping make a study of a north coast community of privately as Ph.D. dissertations at Columbia University. Mr.
tural groups of Puerto Rican life somewhat in the
to formulate the problems and methods, of field re- owned sugar plantations of medium size. Gabriel Eugenio Fernández Méndez of the faculty of the Uni­
manner that the Lynds’ study of Middletown (Lynd
seatch. We are also grateful to Simon Rottenbeig, act­ Escobar, a Peruvian anthropologist, then at Yale versity of Puerto Rico contributed most valuable
and Lynd, 1929; Lynd, 1937) Wests description
ing director of the Social Science Research Center University, spent several months studying family suggestions concerning all parts of the manuscript,
of Plainville, U.S.A. (West, 1945). illuminated cer­
during the period of the field work, for expediting structure in a western village. especially Part II, The Cultural Background of Con­
tain varieties of life in the United States, that Embree s
the research, and to Millard Hansen, present director The members of the staff cannot adequately express temporary Puerto Rico.
account of Suye Mura (Embree, 1939) has clarified
of the Center for helping to arrange publication of their gratitude to the many scholars, political leaders, We complete our acknowledgments with an ex­
Japanese farm community life, that Fei’s and Chang’s
scientists, and citizens, both Puerto Rican and North pression of appreciation to Dr. Harry Shapiro of the
comparative analysis of different kinds of villages in the present work. ‘
Publication of the materials was made possible American, whose generous contributions of their American Museum of Natural History and Dr. Fred
Earthbound China (Fei and Chang, 1945) exem­
through subsidies granted by the University of Puerto time and knowledge were essential to the success of Thieme of the University of Michigan. Dr. Shapiro
plified certain types of Chinese rural life, that Arens-
Rico, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Wenner-Gren the research. Space does not permit a full list of was general director and Dr. Thieme field director of
berg’s studies (Arensberg and Kimball, 1940) have
Foundation and the Research Çoard of the University these persons, for it would include a large portion of a study of the human biology of Puerto Rico which
disclosed basic features of Irish farm people, that
the very wonderful people of Puerto Rico, especially was carried out at the same time as our own project
Znaniecki’s classic study outlined the culture of the of Illinois.
The, members of the research staff carried the those in the communities who were ever helpful and and was in many ways closely related to it. Dr. Thieme
Polish peasant, or that Redfield’s account of Yuca­
burden of the preliminary background research, of kindly. We must, however, make special mention of maintained close contact with our staff and was ever
tán (Redfield, 1941) presented a clear picture of several
the field work, and of the preparation of the mate­ the following: generous of his time and help.
Mexican cultural types. We were also convinced that
rials for publication. They are the individual authors Dr. Jaime Bagué, former acting commissioner of The present volume is in every sense a joint pfoduct
there were sufficient data available concerning Puerto
of the special studies of the various types of Puerto agriculture; Dr. Tomás Blanco, historian and general of the staff, even though certain chapters are signed
Rican history and national institutions to enable us
Rican life, and together with Julian H. Steward, scholar; Sra. Angie Bobonis, able secretary of the individually, and we believe that they are striking
to make our study interdisciplinary to the extent th^t
they are the joint authors of the remaining chapters. Social Science Research Center; Sr. Ramón Colón proof that collaborative research is more fruitful than
we could interpret the lifeways of the special segments
Torres, commissioner of agriculture; Mr. and Mrs. individual scholarship. The Introduction, Part I,
of the population in terms of essential features or The staff members were:
Dr. Robert Manners, then of Columbia University Jack Delano; Mr. A. L. Foss of Luce and Co.; Dr. prepared by Julian H. Steward in order to present
national institutions of the island as a whole. Finally,
and now on the faculty of Brandéis University, Wal­ Martin Hernández, former chief. Economics Depart­ the purposes, theories, and methods of the research,
we were confident that we could count on the sympa­
ment, Agricultural Experiment Station and now sub­ is the result of considerable hard thinking by all
thetic yet critical assistance of our Puerto Rican tham, Massachusetts.
Dr. Sidney W. Mintz, then of Columbia University commissioner of agriculture; Mrs. Beatrice Howell, members of the staff. As will be seen throughout this
friends and colleagues to guide and counsel us in opr
complex task and to correct us when we appeared tp and now on the faculty of Yale University, New formerly of the Insular Planning Board; Sra. Clara volume, the application of the anthropological
Lugo de Sendra, director of education for the Land method to Puerto Rico and the utilization of the data
Haven, Connecticut.
be wrong. Dr. Elena Padilla Seda, then of the University of Authority; Rev. Domingo Marrero Navarro, profes­ of the other social sciences in the interpretation of
If there is room for disagreement about any of the
Chicago and now a research director for the Cornell sor at the Theological Seminary and assistant profes­ Puerto Rican culture was in many respects a pioneer­
results set forth in these volumes it will probably
Medical School project in New York City. sor of humanities at the University of Puerto Rico; ing task which required much original thought at
involve interpretation more thañ substantive report­
Dr. Raymond Scheele, then of Columbia University Sr. Felix Mejias, subcommissioner of commerce; Sr. each step. The chapters on cultural history contained
ing or description. But we believe that differences in
vili THE PEOPLE OF PUERTO RICO
in Part II are the joint product of all members of the have become available prior to our publication date
have been utilized. The field research was done in
project staff, although they are based on the original
1948 and 1949, and most of the library research was
historical survey prepared by Raymond Scheele. The
completed by 1950. Since then, new censuses have
chapters in Part III describing the rural subcultures
been made, many studies have been carried out by
and the upper-class culture were prepared by the in­
Contents
dividuals who made the field studies, but the final the Center for Social Science Research, and in fact new
political and economic developments have taken place
presentation and the nature of the analysis in each
case results from detailed discussion by the entire in Puerto Rico. Much new material is now available I. Introduction 1
in print. For example, an entire issue of the Annals
group. The comparisons of the Puerto Rican sub­
of the American Academy of Political and Social JULIAN H. STEWARD
cultures and the hypotheses of cross-cultural regulari­
ties presented in Part IV are the products of joint Science has been devoted to Puerto Rico (January,
II. The Cultural Background of Contemporary Puerto Rico 29
1953). Although occasional reference is made to publi­
authorship. We believe that it is noteworthy that it
was possible to draw interpretative and hypothetical cations issued subsequent to our research, this volume THE STAFF
should be considered as dealing with the period when
conclusions that satisfied all six authors.
It was impossible to bring this volume entirely up the field research was carried out. 1. The Cultural Historical Approach 31
to date in the sense that all relevant materials which
2. Period I: Discovery and Introduction of Iberian Patterns (1493-1700) 34
3. Period II: Increasing Export Agriculture (Early Eighteenth Century to Early Nineteenth
Century) 45
4. Period III: Expanding Export Agriculture (1815—1898) 50
5. Period IV: National Patterns During the American Period (1898-1948) 62
III. Types of Subcultures and Local Rural Communities: Eield Studies of Earm and Town
Life 91
6. Tabara: Subcultures of a Tobacco and Mixed Crops Municipality 93
ROBERT A. MANNERS
7. San José: Subcultures of a “Traditional” Coffee Municipality 171
ERIC R. WOLF
8. Nocorá: The Subculture of Workers on a Government-Owned Sugar Plantation 265
ELENA PADILLA SEDA
9. Cañamelar: The Subculture of a Rural Sugar Plantation Proletariat 314
SIDNEY W. MINTZ
10. The Prominent Families of Puerto Rico 418
RAYMOND L. SCHEELE
IV. Summary and Conclusions 463
THE STAFF
11. Comparative Analysis of Regional Subcultures 465
12. Nationality in Puerto Rico 489
13. Some Hypothetical Regularities of Cultural Change 503
Appendix 513
Bibliography 516
Index 527
I
BY JULIAN H. STEWARD
i ^^Lntroduction
I
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
The present volume reports a cultural historical
study of the behavior patterns or lifeways of certain of
the Puerto Rican people. The study undertook to ana­
lyze the contemporary culture and to explain it in
terms of the historical changes which have occurred
on the island, especially those which followed the tran­
sition from Spanish sovereignty to United States sov­
ereignty a half century ago, and in terms of ecological
adaptations of the historically derived patterns to the
local geographical environment. Interest centers not
only upon the concrete details of cultural form, func­
tion, and pattern of modern Puerto Rico and upon
their modification from one historical period to an­
other but upon the general processes of historical de­
velopment. The substantive results of the study are
seen as exemplifications of processes which are now
occurring also in other world areas, and this volume
concludes with some hypothetical regularifies of
change which appear to operate in different cultures
elsewhere.
In order to carry out this broad objective it was
necessary to clarify certain concepts and methods and
to delimit the scope of investigation. Instead of at-
teriipting to ascertain what the culture of the average
or typical Puerto Rican was like or of trying to study
all of the many special varieties of behavior, we chose
to analyze the lifeways of certain special segments and
classes which are numerically important. We were con­
cerned especially with the features which characterize
and distinguish the people engaged in the major forms
of agricultural production—^with the small farmers
who grow tobacco and mixed crops, with the hacienda
owners, the peasants, and the farm laborers of the
1
2 THE PEOPLE OF PUERTO RICO INTRODUCTION 3
coffee area, and with the workers on both the corporate- the differentiation of land use and in the adaptation of develop the theory and practice of area research. Puerto Rico passed to United States’ sovereignty,
owned and the government-owned, profit-sharing social features to the productive processes. While we believe that the present research has con­ whereupon corporate capital from the continent flowed
sugar plantations. These products—tobacco, coffee, A final objective was to present our conclusions not tributed to the methodology of area studies, there are , rapidly into the sugar industry, bringing further tech­
and sugar—are Puerto Rico’s principal cash crops, and only as substantive findings concerning particular sub­ two very cogent reasons why it was impossible to make nological changes and altering the socioeconomic pat­
the greater part of the rural population is engaged in cultures but also as a set of theoretical propositions a complete area research project. First, adequate analy­ terns under which the sugar workers lived. United
their production. We were also concerned with the which might illuminate other cultures. We assume sis of the many special aspects of national culture re­ States sovereignty also permitted accelerated change in
prominent and wealthy families of business and pro­ that the comparative or cross-culture method of anthro­ quires very thorough interdisciplinary coverage, a task legal, educational, religious, and other insular insti­
pology has value in revealing recurrent features of completely beyond our financial and scientific re­ tutions, and it facilitated the flow of continental in­
fessional men.
We selected municipalities exemplifying these prin­ cultural structure, function, and history as well as in sources. Second, the problem of how to interrelate and fluences of all kinds.
cipal types of farm production and sought to determine pointing up contrasts between cultures of diverse ori­ synthesize the data of the different disciplines so as to Puerto Rico, however, is by no means a carbon copy
whether significant differences in the more important gins and traditions. Because the former ordinarily re­ achieve a comprehensive interpretation of any national of the United States. It has reacted within the terms
a~sp'ects of cultural behavior were associated witti ttie main implicit in the data of any particular analysis, culture as an integrated whole has not yet been solved of its own cultural background, geographical setting,
type of production and with the individual's status and providing the reader only ill-defined impressions con­ satisfactorily by the various area study programs.^ The and local traditions to the new institutional frame­
r^e within the community. In ttie tieiu research, we cerning their cross-cultural significance, we conclude purposes of area studies range from extremely practical work. The island is still predominantly agrarian, and
sought to ascertain subcultural differences between this report with a set of explicit although tentative to highly theoretical objectives, and there may be as some 40 per cent of the population earns its living by
certain classes or categories of rural people by analyz­ hypotheses or formulations of regularities that Puerto many frames of reference as there are disciplines. The cultivating the land. Sugar continues to be the princi­
ing their methods of making a living, family types, Rico seems to share with typologically similar cultures anthropological frame of reference is culture. Our ef­ pal crop, but by no means all of the agricultural popu­
social relations, political and religious forms, practices in other parts of the world. forts to understand the local and class subcultures in lation works in sugar. There are many small farmers
and attitudes, varieties of recreation, and life values. In addition to the purpose set forth, other objectives relation to the total insular culture compelled us to who grow mixed crops but obtain most of their income
We paid particular attention to differences associated which are prominent in anthropological studies of con­ conceptualize the latter in its heterogeneous and com­ from tobacco. There are also coffee producers, cattle­
with the individual’s position in the community, temporary populations were given serious thought. For plex aspects and to draw heavily upon the disciplines
whether as townsman or rural dweller, farm owner, example, we considered how our research might con­ which have devoted themselves to these aspects. While
sharecropper, or laborer, merchant, government em­ tribute to the understanding of the national character­ we make no pretense that the present project is an area
ployee, wage worker, and the like. The lifeways which istics of Puerto Rico as a whole and of the national study we believe that it indicates some of the lines
distinguish the members of these different segments of character, or “personality in culture,” which the typi­ along which area research might be pursued.
rural society are presented as subcultures, as self- cal Puerto Rican presumably, acquires as the result of Before explaining the methodology of the present
consistent patterns which prescribe the behavior of nationally shared cultural traits. We concluded, how­ research, however, it is well to acquaint the reader
the local group of which the individual is a member. ever, that in the analysis of Puerto Rico or any other with some of the principal characteristics of the culture
These local patterns of behavior are conceived as heterogeneous society it would be methodologically and society of Puerto Rico. ,
subcultures because they have developed and function indefensible as well as impracticable to make such re­
within the larger context of the community and insular search the first order of business. All members of a
culture. For this reason they provide insights into the nation undeniably have much in common. But before GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PUERTO RICO
local manifestations of national political, religious, the shared traits can be appraised it is necessary not t
economic, educational, and other institutions. They only to distinguish and trace the sources of the varied Puerto Rico is an island some thirty-five miles wide
also illuminate the varied local structuring and cul­ components of the national common denominator— and one hundred miles long lying at the eastern end
tural characteristics of social classes. They exemplify for example, features resulting from the imposition of the Greater Antilles between Hispaniola and the
certain similarities and differences between the local of a single system of national laws, participation in a Virgin Islands. Subtropical and endowed with a. varied
varieties of rural classes and between the rural groups basic national and international economy, use of a and extremely fertile natural environment, it has been
and the new middle classes which have developed common language, observance of similar dietary prac­ able to produce not only subsistence crops but a con­
largely in response to new insular economic patterns tices, responses to media of mass communications, siderable variety of cash crops for export to a world
and governmental services. similarities of community and family organization, market. For the greater part of its four centuries as a
A special study was made of the prominent families and other characteristics of diverse and heterogeneous Spanish colony, however, Puerto Rico was predomi­
of the island because of their traditional superordinate origin—but to weigh these traits against the many nantly a land of small farmers who were permitted to
position respecting all classes, their important role in features which distinguish the members of different produce little for world trade, except as contraband Fig. I. Sugar'cane fields characteristic of the Coastal Plains
the power structure, and their unusually close contacts communities and sociocultural classes. We therefore export evaded Spanish restrictions and stimulated showing the mountain backbone of the island of Puerto
today with North American culture. employed the traditional method of anthropology of some commercial farming. Knowledge of the subcul­ Rico. Photo by Delano: Government of Puerto Rico.
In addition to firsthand field studies of the rural studying all aspects of the behavior of the individual tures—especially the blends of Hispanic, African, and
subcultures and of the island’s prominent families, the within the context of his specialized community, class, native Indian features—of these early centuries and of men, dairy farmers, and growers of pineapples, citrus
project sought to determine the developmental factors or other subcultural group. the factors that shaped them is at present very imper­ fruits, and other products.
and processes that produced these varied subcultures. ■ We also considered the possibility of approaching fect. In addition to the rural population, there are town
Puerto Rico’s gradual change from an area in which Puerto Rico in the manner of area study programs, In the nineteenth century, when Spain relaxed her and urban people—governmental, business, servicing,
small, subsistence farms predominated to one char­ that is, of endeávoring to synthesize the data of all trade restrictions, sugar, coffee, and tobacco became constructional, transportational, and manufacturing
acterized by several rather distinctive forms of com­ social science disciplines in ternis of the total, inte­ very important as export crops. Regional subcultures personnel—-whose numbers are increasing and who
mercial agriculture had to be understood in terms of grated insular whole. If the whole were defined in began to emerge in response to the distinctive techno­ are becoming more varied and specialized as a result
trends resulting from influences originating largely cultural terms this would have required study of the logical, financial, and social arrangements under which of developing technology and commerce and of ex­
from outside the island. The appraisal of these trends political, economic, religious, and other patterns and these crops were produced. At the turn of the century. panding governmental services. Urbanization, though
involved us in matters that are usually not taken into institutions that function on a national scale and level recent, is progressing rapidly, but the great majority
account in “community studies.” We had to under­ as well as of features that constitute the distinctive of Puerto Rico’s 2,285,000 persons counted in the 1952
1 The question of the objectives, methods, underlying concepts,
stand the nature of the national and international patterns of community and individual behavior. Since and frames of reference in the interdisciplinary approach of area census—over 668 per square mile, oq^ of the most
framework within which the subcultures developed Puerto Rico is a fairly small and well-defined area, it study programs to contemporary states, nations, and world areas densely settled areas in the world—are fairly evenly
and to determine the role of the local environment in appeared'that it might lend itself to an attempt to has been analyzed in some detail in Julian H. Steward, 1950. distributed over the land as rural people.
INTRODUCTION 5
suiting in government-owned sugar co-operatives, the sonality type. In either case, stress is placed upon the
assignment of subsistence plots to individuals, easier functional interdependence of the different modes of
credit for farmers, creation of farm extension ser,vices, behavior. The cultural method, therefore, is broadly
wage and hour legislation, health and educational fa­ holistic in that it analyzes all modes of individual be­
cilities, and many other benefits have helped different havior and all supra-individual institutions in rela­
classes in various degrees without constituting a final tionship to one another. It contrasts with a method
or lasting solution. which undertakes separate studies of each aspect of
behavior, such as economics, government, or religion,
in isolation.
METHODOLOGY An operational concept of culture and a workable
cultural method, however, must be adapted to the
Anthropology is a comparative newcomer to studies nature of the particular sociocultural system under
of contemporary complex societies and nations, having analysis. Concepts and methods revised for the study
traditionally devoted itself to aboriginal, tribal socie­ of tribal societies are inadequate for dealing with
ties. Although the concept of culture and the cultural contemporary societies. We shall distinguish “subcul­
method which it has brought to these new studies are ture” from “culture,” assign new and qualified mean­
perhaps its most valuable contribution to social sci­ ing to “national culture,” “national characteristics,”
ence, it is now very evident that these methodological and “national character,” and devise a taxonomy and
tools must be revised to have maximum usefulness in terminology for designating qualitatively different
dealing with the new subject matter. During the last types of cultures. Until these distinctions are made, an­
two decades, the “community study method’’ has been thropologists who are experimenting with new appli­
applied to the examination of complex contemporary cations of their cultural method will be unable to com­
societies, but, with few exceptions, these communities municate with each other, let alone with fellow social
have been treated as if they were tribal societies, and scientists who are dealing with the same subject mat­
little attention has been paid to the larger state or ter.
nation of which they are integral parts. When the cul­ Part of the difficulty in readapting methodology
tural method has been used in the study of entire na­ stems from anthropology’s concept of cultural relativ­
tions, it has treated them as if they were tribal societies ity. As a comparative science, anthropology has tra­
and emphasized the common denominator of shared ditionally been concerned with contrasts to the extent
behavior traits while largely overlooking or minimiz­ of placing primary emphasis upon the uniqueness of
ing the many complex and more institutionalized fea­ each cultural tradition. This emphasis logically ne­
tures as well as the varying subcultures. gates the possibility of a taxonomy which would put
The need to revise certain anthropological concepts different sociocultural systems or parts of different
and methods in studies of contemporary societies be­ systems in the same category. Terms that are used
came very clear in the course of the present research. cross-culturally, therefore, have only very loose mean­
It was evident that a summation of portraits of the ing if fundamental distinctions in the stages or levels
different communities would not constitute a complete of any developmental continuum from tribal to civ­
picture of the total island. Puerto Rican culture, like ilized societies are not made. The lack of clarity be­
that of any contemporary state or nation, is more than tween “tribal,” “community,” “state,” “national,” and
a mosaic of its subcultures. There are features above the like has meant in practice that all developmental
and beyond the subcultures of the communities and levels are handled with the methodology which was
sociocultural classes which must be grasped if com­ developed in tribal studies.
munity function and acculturation are to be under­ Primitive societies are typically small, self-contained,
stood. In short, the traditional concepts and methods and culturally homogeneous. “Tribal culture” is a con­
Fie 2. View near Adjuntas, characteristic of the mountain­ of cultural studies proved to be a poor tool for dealing struct based essentially on behavioral traits that char­
ous interior. Photo by Delano: Government of Puerto Rico.
with the heterogeneous aspects of the culture of a con­ acterize virtually all members of the society. Although
temporary society. there are some differences associated with sex, age, role,
and status, there are no major occupational, regional,
or social groups or segments that differ significantly
new wealth in the island to take care of the increased THE CONCEPT OF CULTURE
Puerto Rico’s population has quadrupled in the from one another and can be said to have subcultures,
population. Local industries offer a partial solution to
last one hundred years and more than doubled in the A concept of culture that is applicable to all socio­ and there are no larger, suprapersonal institutions that
unemployment, but as yet they have not been exten­
last fifty years. Despite the constant drain of emigration cultural systems, primitive and civilized, is necessarily cannot be understood fairly well by studying the be­
sively developed. Urbanization has been accompanied
within the past decade, there is now a considerable very broad and general. Culture in the abstract con­ havior of individuals. The cultural method, which in
by the appearance of slums, such as El Fanguito in
population surplus relative to sources of income.^ In­ sists of socially transmitted or learned ideas, attitudes, tribal studies is commonly called the ethnographic
San Tuan and lesser slums in the smaller cities and
vestment capital from the United States greatly ex­ traits of overt behavior, and suprapersonal institu­ method, is to observe a sufficient number of individ­
towns. A low standard of living, seasonal unemploy­
panded sugar production, but it did not leave enough tions. In most anthropological studies, it is generally uals to ascertain the typical or expectable behavior of
ment, malnutrition, endemic disease, and general in­
conceived that the totality of these features has an tribal members which is then described as the culture.
security are widespread and chronic. Birth control,
over-all unity which is generally expressed in cultural More complex sociocultural systems such as modern
2 There are perhaps 200,000 Puerto Ricans in which is widely advocated as a solution to the economic
alone C Wright Mills, Clarence Senior, and Rose Kohn Goldsen, terms as functional integration within a basic pattern nations are not dealt with so easily. The subcultural
and social problems, has made little headway and m
«0-3 sento (,953^3.) <.««...«1 «to. »ejl,joc.^o per»™ or configuration, but which may also be expressed in groups of the latter, such as communities, occupa­
were drained off the island between 1942 and « any event could not remedy the overpopulation which psychological terms as integration within a basic per­ tional classes, ethnic minorities, and the like, may be
in 1952 places the number of Puerto Ricans in New York at already exists. Land reform and social legislation re-
321,000. See also Kingsley Davis, 1953.
6 THE PEOPLE OF PUERTO RICO
INTRODUCTION 7
Studied by the ethnographic method, but this alone is in comparative independence of other families. There ' have become highly specialized, as well as of the mid­
in a. study like the present one. The most important
not enough. Modern nations have certain features, are few aspects of culture which may not be wholly dle classes and the professional and upper classes.
such as governmental structures, legal systems, reli­ understood through analysis of the individual family. This concept of levels of organization suggests the distinction is that between national (and interna­
gious organizations, and economic patterns which dif­ Most primitive peoples, however, are organized in hypothesis that the higher levels of culture may be tional) patterns on the one hand and subcultures or
sociocultural segments on the other. Once this distinc­
fer qualitatively from anything known in tribal cul­ various multifamily societies, such as lineages, bands, changed more rapidly and more readily than the lower
tion is clarified, other aspects of national culture, such
ture and which cannot possibly be grasped by ascer­ villages, and tribes, which have patterns of interfamil­
ones. When any region or state passes from the sover­
taining the behavior of the typical individual asso­ ial co-operation and interaction. These -patterns -in­ eignty of one nation to that of another, it has to con­ as national characteristics, national character, national
ciated with them. The concept that culture consists of clude collective forms of hunting, fishing, and farming, form to a new set of national laws, it is integrated in cultural achievements, and institutional behavior, may
be related to the different levels.
shared behavior will not at all serve to describe the group worship and ritual, extended kinship relations,
a new economic system, and it may be subject to new
functions of a government or a system of international tribal warfare, and- many other activities which entail religious, military, and social patterns. But it retains National Patterns and Subcultures
commerce. suprafamilial organization. These characteristics more a great deal of its original local or community organi­
or less correspond to those of Redfield’s folk society zation and custom, and an even larger proportion of National patterns are here considered to be those
and folk culture (Redfield, 1941, 1947). They are familial behavior. A modern sociocultural system, portions or aspects of ’culture that function -on a na­
LEVELS OF SOCIOCULTURAL ORGANIZATION qualitatively different from anything found on a therefore, contains- within itself qualitatively distinc­ tional level, for example, the legislative system and
The several distinctions made here between tribal purely family level, and they could not function tive levels of organization, even though the nature and legal code, the governmental structure, the educational
and contemporary national sociocultural systems are among families that were largely independent of one function of each level has been modified by the larger system, the military, organized religion, money, bank­
based largely upon the concept of levels of sociocul­ another. A still higher level of organization is repre­ configuration. It follows, therefore, that each of these ing, commerce, public services, and many others. These
tural integration or organization. The concept of sented by multicommunity states, federations, and levels or structural parts must be analyzed in terms of different national patterns have traditionally been the
levels of organization underlies the distinctions be­ other sociocultural systems, which are integrated themselves as well as in relationship to the total sys­ subject matter of various special disciplines, each of
tween the physical, biological, and social sciences, through patterns, or institutions not found at a com­ tem. ’ which uses its own distinctive method. Although all of
which deal respectively with those phenomena which munity level. The state ® generally has more or less These concepts have served as a tool in the analysis them are part of culture in a broad sense, the ethno­
are organized according to physical principles, with formal national patterns of government and milita­ of Puerto Rico. Contemporary Puerto Rican society graphic method is not adapted to the analysis of their
those which are organized according to a life principle, rism, a state church, economic patterns which entail is highly diversified and heterogeneous. Our research principal characteristics.
that is, which have the property of self-perpetuation, some, degree of centralized regulation of production has shown that there are many subcultures within the An ethnographic approach to national institutions
and with those which are organized on a cultural and consumption and which usually have an official­ larger framework of the national culture and the or patterns could deal only with what we may call
or superorganic level. Each level has qualities that dom or bureaucracy and national social classes. national institutions. The contemporary diversity is culturally prescribed institutional behavior, that is,
are unknown in the lower levels and that require In a developmental sequence through successively largely the result of differential local effects of the with the formalized and stereotyped behavior expected
distinctive research methods. I have suggested else­ higher levels of sociocultural organization, the struc­ island s participation in world commerce—of agricul­ of an individual in his capacity as a participant in
where (Steward, 1951) that the concept of the super- tural forms and distinctive functions of the lower tural wage labor which has produced a proletariat in the institution. This behavior, however, would repre­
organic, though useful in distinguishing cultural levels tend to persist after the new patterns and insti­ one region, of cultivation and sale of a cash crop an­ sent a very incomplete portion of the subculture of the
phenomena from biological and physical phenomena tutions are superimposed upon them. The family con­ nual which has made for individual independence and individual or of the larger functions of the institution
and in clarifying the nature of the subject matter of tinues to be the sexual and procreational unit, and it. initiative of the small farmer in another region, etc_ itself. The laborers, clerks, agents, managers, owners,
anthropology, is an imperfect tool for the study of may retain certain economic, educational, and ;social but everywhere the cultural lag has been greatest at and the like who meet in the context of a factory
particular cultures. There is need in the cultural sci­ functions, although, as part of a larger whole; it is the community and family level. The encomienda conform to certain behavioral expectations of the job
ences as in the biological sciences, tp distinguish sub- modified in certain ways. The band, tribe, or village and repartimiento under sixteenth-century Spain did situation. While their varied roles and statuses give
levels of organization and to recognize that each sub- does not relinquish all of its functions after becoming some clues to their off-the-job status, their total sub­
not at once eradicate all aboriginal Indian'features,
level differs from the others not only quantitatively in part of a state. Its members continue to co-operate in and the slave plantation did not at first eliminate cultures—their religion, family life, and other features
having greater complexity but qualitatively in having local enterprises, it has its own leaders, and it maÿ re­ those aspects of African culture which functioned on are not directly manifest in the factory. Similarly,
new forms and distinctive principles of organization. tain its traditional religion, even though national an individual and family level. In fact, a great many the meaning of the factory in relation to a larger
Just as a mammal has a respiratory, circulatory, nerv­ forms of production, government, and religion are features of family and community culture of diverse system of technology, credit, distribution, and the
ous system, and other features not found in unicellu­ superimposed upon the. local ones. In due time, of origin thatched houses, mortars made of logs, grind­ like cannot well be grasped by merely observing the
lar life, so national societies have institutionalized, course, influence from the national patterns may pene­ ing stones, calabash containers, wooden dishes and behavior of factory personnel. There are many other
supracommunity features not found in tribal society. trate to the very lowest levels of organization. In mod­ stools, hammocks, baskets, manioc or yucca presses, institutionalized situations, such-as the church, school
The intricately and delicately structured interrelation­ ern industrial societies, for example, extreme special-, and even magic' and folk forms of Catholicism—sur­ moving picture theater, baseball park, and the like!
ship between these features has a distinctive quality. izafion in occupations together with the development vived until fairly recently among the small, independ­ which draw persons from various subcultures but
The concept of levels of sociocultural integration of transportation, of means of mass communication, ent subsistence farmers of the interior despite rather which have their own standards of behavior. Even
does not of itself carry conclusions as to what levels and other factors have increasingly leveled local dif­ fundamental changes in the national institutions. To­ where these situations permit class distinctions, for
are significant. As an ^operational concept it merely ferences and weakened local social integration. The day, a semblance of uniformity in insular culture as example, through segregation on an economic or racial
points up the need of recognizing qualitatively dis­ family has surrendered a large portion of its older a whole is given by a number of traits of the Hispanic basis, which might be manifest through deference
tinctive characteristics which emerge in the develop­ functions, and those which it retains have become spe­ heritage which function largely at the community and shown by lower-class individuals to their superiors,
ment of any culture and which are found in the in­ cialized. Local sociocultural segmentation begins to family levels use of the Spanish language, a large they do not reveal the nature of the subcultural differ­
ternal structure of any “complex” or “civilized” soci­ give way to horizontal segmentation, and the individ­ family, the double standard in sexual behavior, ritual ences associated with the classes.
ety. The precise nature of the cultural sublevels or ual lives more and more in the context of a socioeco­ kinship, and others. These have become differently It is only in a country with well-developed mass
organizational patterns will differ in particulars in nomic class, which has certain uniformities of behavior patterned in each local subculture, but they are not communications, a high standard of living, and a rela­
each historical tradition, but certain general features or culture, rather than as a member of a distinctive tively high degree of socioeconomic mobility, such as
necessarily eliminated by changes at the national level.
are fairly universal. community. This is true oí the working classes, which the United States, that the number of institutional
There are a few cultures in the world, like the West­ situations in which individuals of different subcultures
ern Shoshoni Indians of Nevada or the Eskimo, in 3 This use of “state” is in no way an attempt to define it. Sig­ NATIONAL SOCIOCULTURAL SYSTEMS can intermingle increases to the point where shared
which the biological or nuclear family represents the nificant levels will have to be distinguished through empirical behavior seems to predominate and subcultural differ­
research and an adequate terminology will have to be developed. concept of levels of integration permits certain
highest level of organization. In such societies, virtu­ ences are correspondingly reduced. Even in the United
States dilfer~from one another when they have developed within distinctions between the different aspects or compo­
ally all cultural activities are carried on by the family different local cultural traditions. nents of the culture of a modern nation that are useful States subcultures are by no means completely leveled,
but the leveling process has gone so far, especially in
8 THE PEOPLE OF PUERTO RICO
0
INTRODUCTION
the urban centers, which provide a large number of one another in a system of social statuses. From this manifestations of Catholicism, in political attitudes, grated total culture in which the national institutions
situations for interclass contact, that it would be easy fact we may derive a cultural definition of classes! and in obedience to the law. Despite the Catholic and the sociocultural segments would acquire a fairly
to underestimate the importance of subcultural dif­ classes are sociocultural groups or segments arranged church’s international organization and standardized stable and fixed interrelationship to one another. In
ferences and to overestimate the nationally shared be­ in an hierarchical order. But the hierarchy functions procedures and doctrines, orthodoxy prevails largely the European feudal pattern, communities based on
havior. principa 1 in the locality. It does not always follow among the upper class, while certain communities the ownership of large tracts by landlords were func­
The national institutions have functional and that segments having the same relative status in differ­ have made Catholicism into a cult of the saints and tional parts of a state whose governmental, religious,
structural aspects which are distinguishable from the ent localities will be cultural equivalents if the local others have mixed witchcraft, spiritualism, and even and social system sanctioned and supported the rural
cultural behavior of the people connected with them. or regional subcultures are unlike. Protestantism with it. The local manifestation of any land-use and tenure system. But where any parts of
The processes of manufacturing, marketing and trade, During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries national pattern can be comprehended only with refer­ the total configuration are radically altered, the whole
like the principles of money and banking, are studied Puerto Rico had a few towns and plantations which ence to the distinctive context of the subcultural seg­ is thrown out of adjustment. An understanding of the
by the specialized methods of economics, which need were internally divided into a number of sociocultural ment and the community. processes of readjustment requires interdisciplinary
not be concerned with how people connected with a segments, but the predominant type of rural society Not all community culture, however, consists of collaboration, that is, analysis on both the community
factory or bank live. Analysis of governmental struc­ was the simple, undifferentiated subsistence farm. In local aspects of formal national institutions. The and national levels. The Puerto Rican communities,
ture and a system of legislation does not necessarily the eighteenth century, plantations which grew cash family, for example, is an entirely local matter. It is as the chapters on history and on the different com­
pay attention to the subculture of lawmakers. For cer­ crops and rural communities began to develop on an true that a type of family may prevail over much or munities show, have changed very radically during the
tain purposes, it may be very important to know the important scale. Since that time, the community, or even most of an area and that marriage daws may four and a half centuries since tfie conquest. An under­
culture of people involved in economic or legislative municipio, which includes the town center and the be established on a national level, but the family is standing of these changes requires analysis at the com­
activities, but there are some aspects of these activities dependent farm area, has constituted the structural not part of any kind of national structure. It is, there­ munity level of cultural adaptations to land-use
which can best be understood by the specialized and functional context within which the majority of fore, a very different kind of institution than a chain potentials and at the national level of insular changes
methods of economics and political science. the people live. Communities are not culturally of banks or a political party. The same is true of which occurred during the Spanish colonial period
The individual lives within the framework of a set homogeneous units, like tribal societies, for there are certain other features of local culture, such as settle­ and during the American period. Detailed analysis of
of national institutions, but his daily activities are important subcultural differences between town and ment pattern. Both the family and settlement pattern, the national institutions for their own sake was be­
normally carried out within the context of a fairly country and among merchants, artisans, laborers, and however, are profoundly influenced by national in­ yond the possible scope of the present project. None­
small segment of society that consists of people sub­ the like within the town as well as among landlords stitutions. theless, we had to consider them at some length in
stantially like himself and who therefore may be said and laborers, large and small farmers, and owners and These two aspects of insular institutions, the formal order to understand the national or insular institu­
to have a subculture. There are two principal types sharecroppers in the country. But the community has and the local, reflect the traditional division of labor tional framework within which the communities de­
of sociocultural segments. First, there are locally dis­ a high degree of sociocultural integration. It is the among the social science disciplines and suggest the veloped. To this end, we consulted published sources
tinctive segments, such as communities, rural neigh­ center of primary marketing of produce and ultimate terms of collaboration. The former are the subject and held a series of extended conferences with special­
borhoods, and ethnic minorities, which represent ver­ distribution of commodities; it is the locale in which matter of various specialists; the latter, in their com­ ists in the various subjects.
tical or essentially localized cleavages within the. larger churches, schools, public health, law enforcement, and munity or class manifestations—that is, as character­
society. Second, there are horizontal segments, which other services directly reach the people; and it is the istics of the different sociocultural segments—lend National Patterns and National Cultural Achievements
follow occupational or class lines and in some cul­ place where the people are reared and educated, themselves to a cultural or social anthropological ap­
There are certain aspects of any culture, such as art,
tures, caste lines. These may crosscut local cleavaps. marry, work, visit, and amuse themselves. It is jn the proach. The following two lists, though very incom­ literature, music, philosophy, science, and ideologies,
Society at a tribal level has only local or vertical community that the different rural subcultural groups plete, illustrate how these two aspects are distinct yet which are often subsumed under the humanities rather
segments, each tribe or segment constituting a com­ interact with one another in a set of reciprocal, face- complemen tary. than under the social sciences. Because these com­
paratively independent functional unit which is not to-face relationships. monly represent the highest intellectual and esthetic
internally class-structured. (There are, of course, many Although the national patterns or institutions and Formal insular or extra- attainments of a nation, they are sometimes designated
so-called “tribes,” such as those of West Africa and the subcultural segments are distinguishable and must Local aspects insular aspects national cultural achievements.
elsewhere, which are internally differentiated into be treated separately, the two are so interdependent Subsistence farming Government regulations and In any sociocultural system above the tribal level,
segments that extend across local groups.) More de­ functionally that neither can be understood properly Cash crop production and aid however, it is necessary to distinguish the national
veloped sociocultural systems, however, have both unless it is related to the other. To this end, it was trade Insular economy, world mar­ achievements from the folk achievements. Throughout
kinds of segments. The European feudal estate, for found convenient in the present research to distin­ Land tenure kets, sources of credit, etc. much of human history, the finest art, music, and
instance, was a fairly well integrated society which guish two aspects of the national patterns: first, the Settlement pattern Basic economy, land laws, in­ literature have been produced for the state or govern­
more formal, insular-wide, and institutionalized as­ Marriage and family heritance system
fsuocnicettiyo naendd icno ncosimstpeda raotfi vtwe oin ddiesptienncdte bncuet oinf tethrde elpaergnedr­ pects, such as the governmental and legal system, SOoccciualp actlaiosnseasl groups NMoanrreiage laws mtelelnetc,t uoarl afonrd tshceie nctliafiscse ds isrceopvreersieens thinagv e tbheemen; maandde ibny­
ent sociocultural classes. Modern industrialization and political parties, labor unions, educational system, Labor unions Insular social structure members of the priestly or ruling classes. Although
its concomitants have brought new kinds of national export and import trade, money, banking, and credit Local government Economic system and insular national achievements tend to filter outward and
patterns or institutions which, though producing organizations, churches and official church doctrines, Political affiliations and specialization downward to the general population, they are con­
nation-wide institutions, have caused extreme socio­ the military, certain organized sports; and, second, the ideologies Labor unions sumed by all segments of the society only in propor­
cultural differentiation on a horizontal basis. Occupa­ community manifestations of the national patterns. Local associations National government tion as there is general education and other means of
tional specialization has not only divided the laboring Governmental agencies, for example, are organized Church and supernatural­ National parties and ideolo­
mass communication and consumption. Otherwise,
class into many special groups but it has created a and controlled on an insular or federal basis, but ism gies locally distinctive folk music, literature, art, dance,
large number of new middle classes. It has also tended tahdea pgto vheisr nmwoenrkt atog entht ei n“ rae alloitciaels ”c oomf mthuen itsyi tuhaatsi onto. SRcehcoroelast iaonnd learning NOargtiaonnizael dc lcuhbusr cahneds societies religious thought, and ideologies may survive.
to establish bonds between equivalent segments of Health, education, farm extension work and other Hospitals, doctors, curers Educational system and media It is necessary to bear this distinction in mind, for
different communities. In some cases, there may be
services have meaning particular to the community of mass communication national culture is too often conceived solely in terms
greater cultural similarities and stronger loyalties bé-
Organized sports, e.g., baseball of those esthetic and intellectual achievements which
and to the classes within it. One kind of community
tween the widely scattered members of the same seg-* Government health measures are understood only by the upper classes and which
stresses the value of education while another is in­
ments than between members of different segments may be little known to the illiterate, isolated folk
different; people utilize the health clinic in some areas
within the local community. societies. The latter may participate in only limited
but rely on folk medicine in others; and so forth.
Virtually all modern communities consist of several A fairly static society which had developed slowly manifestations of these achievements, as when they
Similarly, -there are great local differences in the
distinctive sociocultural segments which are related to would presumably achieve a comparatively well inte­ take part in religious ceremonialism.