Fotografo de Bodas, Santiago

May 20, 2009

In Chile I feel like there is a lot of resentment towards the upperclass. I’ve heard people sneer “Cuicos culiados,” simply because they’ve seen a group of elegantly dressed Chileans and La Dehesa (a very wealthy, closed-off neighborhood where many upper class people live) has been referred to more than a time or two as “soul-less.”

In the U.S., there is poverty, of course. It’s a similar vicious cycle, extremely difficult for people to rise above. But, most of us believe that the American Dream still exists. I’ve never heard of a Chilean Dream. There are individual cases that prove the exception to the rule in Chile, but it does seem even more impossible for people to rise above here.

The social classes here seem very much set, if not in stone, than at least quickly drying cement. You are born into a wealthy family. Certain last names convey status and that alone can take someone far. It often seems like the nanas of this country accept that being a cleaning lady forever is their lot in life, and they won’t be able to change things so why try. While the upper class, accepts that they are simply deserving of the wealth they were born into.Â There isn’t a whole lot of social climbing going on.

Even living in Providencia, which is certainly a very nice neighborhood, but by no means the creme de la creme, I get the sense that I have to defend myself and tell people that I used to live in Estacion Central or Chileans will instantly assume that I’m a “cuica culiada,” too and judge me negatively for it.

In the U.S., there is distinctive culture of giving back, be it through time or money — and that prevails among all social classes. Overall, I found this information:

In 2006, Americans gave about $295 billion to charity. This was up 4.2 percent over 2005 levels, and charitable giving has generally risen faster than the growth of the American economy for more than half a century. Correcting for inflation and population changes, GDP per person in America has risen over the past 50 years by about 150 percent, while charitable giving per person has risen by about 190 percent. That is, the average American family has gotten much richer in real terms over the past half century, and charitable giving has more than kept pace with this trend.

While it is definitely unfair to directly compare Chile to the U.S. in terms of charitable donations, since clearly a developed country has more disposable income to give, the same article also gave the following stats simply comparing the U.S. against the rest of the developed world.

No developed country approaches American giving. For example, in 1995 (the most recent year for which data are available), Americans gave, per capita, three and a half times as much to causes and charities as the French, seven times as much as the Germans, and 14 times as much as the Italians. Similarly, in 1998, Americans were 15 percent more likely to volunteer their time than the Dutch, 21 percent more likely than the Swiss, and 32 percent more likely than the Germans. These differences are not attributable to demographic characteristics such as education, income, age, sex, or marital status. On the contrary, if we look at two people who are identical in all these ways except that one is European and the other American, the probability is still far lower that the European will volunteer than the American.

Maybe this is why in the U.S. we seem to resent our upper class less.Â How can you hate on Bill and Melinda Gates? They’re a couple who gives more away in one year than what most of us will earn in a lifetime. In the U.S. we do turn on those who don’t give. Anyone remember the public backlash when it was revealed during Britney Spears’ divorce case that she only gives $500 dollars a month to charity? We don’t tend to look at giving as something extraordinary, we look at is as almost obligatory if you’re wealthy.

I can’t find any info on percentages of charitable giving in Chile so let’s look at the Teleton, a telethon fundraiser for disabled kids, which is the biggest example of charitable giving here. Sadly, the amount that the big businesses give is pathetic. Falabella, Lider, etc. mostly do promotions where they’ll only give a certain amount if X amount of Chileans go make purchases in their store that day. Essentially, and I can’t find stats so again, I’m just guessing, I’d think that they’re earning way more off the deal than they’re giving.

Leonardo Farkas, a Chilean (self-made, or so he says) millionaire in mining, aside from Don Mario who started the Teleton decades ago, is probably the biggest and most well-known philanthropist in Chile. Unsurprisingly he lived in the U.S. for a big chunk of his life, and, correct me if I’m wrong, still lives there.Â I’ve seen a few interviews with him and he is extremely critical of the Chilean upper class for their lack of generosity. After donating $1.5 million dollars to the Teleton last year, he said he was going to round up other millionaires in Chile and try to start a nation-wide movement to be more philanthropic.

Oh, and did I mention he’s a freaking punk with a curly mullet-fro? Love it!

In the U.S., coming from the lower class, I’ve heard people be jealous, and sort of wistful of the upper class, hoping that someday that could be them. But I’ve never heard the kind of extreme resentment that I’ve heard in Chile. If I had to guess I would say I would say that’s because A. We think that our ruling class has earned their status in life by working their way up. B. The American Dream, or myth of the American Dream makes even the poorest think that someday they too could be wealthy. And, C. Our ruling class gives back more making us hate them significantly less.

Please remember, before you start leaving me hate comments about how the U.S. sucks in terms of social inequality or whatever…yes. Yes, it does. As I’ve said before, the U.S. sucking and Chile sucking are NOT mutually exclusive. However, in terms of being charitable the U.S. does not suck and that’s a good thing. I hope that as GDP in Chile increases so will generosity, because right now, as I see it, it’s sorely lacking.

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When I look in the jump between generations… for example…in my family, I think it does, or can exist.
My grandfather was the son of illegal immigrants, grew up on a farm, and didn't speak English until he was 7. If you look at my father and his brothers and sisters, and track their success over just these three generations, it's phenomenal. No one cares about our weird last name. No one cares that my mom was the first person in her family to go to college. While I don't have the same privileges as someone may have in the upper class (lack of designer clothes, etc.) I still have a freaking ivy league education. I don't think so much change could have happened so rapidly in Chile. I just don't. So I agree with you 100%.

Comment by Amanda — May 20, 2009 @ 7:40 pm

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PS. that guy's hair is AWESOME!

Comment by Amanda — May 20, 2009 @ 7:41 pm

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In the US something like the top 30% of society thinks they are in the top 5% (social class/ monetarily). People routinely in the US self classify as a high social class than they are. In Chile, this is not so. Also, there is huge distinctions between old money and new money. For example, La Dehesa is new money and seen as “rota” among the cuicos. Also in Chile, besides last names (and first names) that differentiate the classes— you always have to list your high school on your CV. This clearly states where you come from. When I lived in St Louis there was a similar phenomenon. People always asked what high school people went to. It was an automatic way to classify people by class. But, in the US, St. Louis is the only place I have seen it.

Comment by ClareSays — May 20, 2009 @ 8:23 pm

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I agree with you too. I come from a farm family and we were by no means part of the upper class, but yet I was able to go to a really great college because of financial aid and scholarships and now I'm living abroad, something that someone from a small farm family (not talking agrobusiness here) in Chile would ever probably be able to.

Also, those statistics about charity in the US are super interesting. It's something I've never thought about, but makes total sense.

Comment by Abbyline — May 20, 2009 @ 8:39 pm

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Yeah, Clare, right now I almost qualify for food stamps, but I sure don't act like it. (hides new expensive shoes and new aveda facial moisturizer….)

I guess that has to do with how I was brought up though? I don't know.

Comment by Amanda — May 20, 2009 @ 8:45 pm

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Great for bringing it up Kyle.

Class is often decided by surname. There are surnames which are thought to be more classy. In Chile they recently did an experiment and applied for jobs with the identical resume with different surnames. You can imagine the outcome…

The only good news is that there are big international companies with a branch in Chile who do not give a *** about classicism and employ whoever is suitable for the job. My future wife works at a company like that.

Comment by Andre — May 21, 2009 @ 1:46 am

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You know what's funny? As I sat here reading your post, especially the part about the US charitable donation rates, I was in my head thinking “oh I think I forgot to give to 2 of the charities I normally give to each year”!

Growing up my family was comfortable financially, my parents always gave (and still give) money to charity, they settled on a percentage of their income every year, and were very clear about making sure we did as well. I am positive this would still be the case regardless of their financial situation and here is why: each Christmas as a gift they would give my brothers and I money, in cash, specifically for us to donate to charity. They told us it could be given anywhere -all to one place or split up in different places- and helped us find charities working for causes we wanted to support. Just that act of tangibly holding the money and giving it away left a big impression, and cultivating the practice of giving is definitely something I want to do when I have kids. Could this have something to do with why I now work for a non-profit organization? Perhaps…:)

Comment by Petunia — May 21, 2009 @ 2:58 am

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Thank you so much for this!! I had questioned a couple of my students about this but never got a “real” answer. I just wanted to know…if you are not born in a wealthy family here is it possible to “gain the ranks” and succeed at whatever you choose to? I am very sure it has happened, but all the responses were either..”no” or “huh”? Haha! The US definately sucks at alot of things…but when times get tough there is always someone there…cheering for you..I love that.

Comment by Beth — May 21, 2009 @ 5:21 am

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I was always surprised to see how many people in Santiago give money to people begging on the street. I feel like in the US (or at least in San Francisco, where I'm from) it's such a common sight that people become blind to it. I know that was true in my case. Seeing people give money to street people so frequently made me reconsider my own perception.

Comment by flojindamesa — May 21, 2009 @ 5:35 am

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As much as I agree with the fact that the American mentality on charity and the Chilean (or in my case Mexican) mentality on charity are very different, I think there is another factor that heavily weighs in the equation: Corruption.

When I was living in Mexico, I never really considered giving money to charity (not that I had much to give anyway) simply because I could never really be sure of where that money was going to go. When you work really hard for your money and you give away a chunk of it thinking that you're doing it for the right reasons and then you discover that in reality that money went somewhere else (someone's pockets mainly) you simply get to a point where just don't feel very philanthropic anymore.

I do remember doing a lot of volunteer work in college and during the whole Chiapas guerrilla era but even then, sometimes you ended up with a very unpleasant surprise. I remember one time my friends and I put together a whole truck of donated food and goods to send to another state that had just been hit by a major earthquake and weeks later we were informed that the person that had coordinated the whole thing actually was in cahoots with the local political party in the area and they were actually SELLING the stuff we'd sent to the people in the devastated area! All of us were disgusted and a lot of my friends never wanted to help out again after that.

Fned.

Comment by Fned. — May 21, 2009 @ 5:45 am

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Chile is different – there is not more corruption here then in the very developed countries. See here the corruption ranking from Wikipedia

Comment by Andre — May 21, 2009 @ 7:02 am

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I think one of the differences between the US and European countries is that in Europe they are taxed significantly higher and generally have more robust social-care systems than in the US. So yeah, people give less and volunteer less, but they pay their government to do a lot more for people than in the US. The health care system alone makes a big difference–people in the US can end up homeless after a major illness or accident if they don't have insurance. That doesn't happen in the developed countries that have universal health care. So maybe people here in the US volunteer and donate because it's the thin line that separates our society from barbarism and we know it …

Comment by Lisa B — May 21, 2009 @ 9:14 am

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How could you hate Bill & Melinda Gates? I don't know, like maybe cuz they're constantly telling us what great, noble, philanthropists they are? And what exactly did Melinda ever do again?

Comment by xxxander — May 21, 2009 @ 9:29 am

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http://www.style.com/vogue/feature/2009/02/gate…

That talks a lot about What exactly Melinda does/has done.

Did you ever think that talking about their projects helps them garner publicity and interest and help?

Comment by kyleracine — May 21, 2009 @ 9:57 am

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Yeah, the article said that people in Europe feel like they are already doing enough with their tax money so clearly that's a factor.

Comment by kyleracine — May 21, 2009 @ 9:59 am

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Wow! Good for Chile, they are really high up there!

Comment by kyleracine — May 21, 2009 @ 10:02 am

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That's a good point, although I honestly don't think it's something people worry about too much here. maybe they do, and I'm wrong…actually sometimes I've wondered why people don't worry about it more in the cases of the big companies like Lider (grocery store) who ask you to donate your change so they can give it to Hogar de Cristo…and it ends up that their deal with Hogar de Cristo is that they use the money “donated” to them to buy stocks in Lider. Vicious cycle.

But, Chile is definitely not a very corrupt place. In general. Who knows though, the mentality could be affecting the willingness to give, I'm not sure. It would be interesting to find studies about that. But I'm too lazy to google

Comment by kyleracine — May 21, 2009 @ 10:04 am

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Wow, that's funny! I've always felt sort of the opposite as you though although my experience is Tampa compared to Santiago, so again, that's more of a comparison of smaller city to huge metropolitan area attitudes.

Comment by kyleracine — May 21, 2009 @ 10:06 am

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Yeah Beth, I agree, the can-do attitude in the U.S. is uplifting! I think people can get ahead here, but the odds are even more stacked against them and instead of a generation or two to end the cycle of poverty, it's more like a generation or six.

Comment by kyleracine — May 21, 2009 @ 10:07 am

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I think that's a pretty common attitude in the U.S. and I really love it! We always did something similar as well, and I'm glad that's a value that my parents instilled in me at a young age.

Comment by kyleracine — May 21, 2009 @ 10:08 am

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Andre, that sounds like a fascinating experiment, do you have a link to it by any chance?

And yeah, Chile is a great place to do business so it's good there are lots of international companies moving in!

Comment by kyleracine — May 21, 2009 @ 10:09 am

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Haha, Amanda, such is the life of a grad student, or so I hear

Comment by kyleracine — May 21, 2009 @ 10:09 am

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It's amazing to look back and see how far families are able to come, isn't it?!?

Comment by kyleracine — May 21, 2009 @ 10:10 am

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Wow, that's crazy Clare! So we are all delusional, basically! What a funny, but typical U.S.American attitude

Comment by kyleracine — May 21, 2009 @ 10:11 am

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That's so awesome. And it's not an uncommon awesome story either. I mean, most of us can trace our family roots a few generations back to immigrants.

Comment by kyleracine — May 21, 2009 @ 10:12 am

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Good call, I was wondering if European citizens were more likely to donate to international causes because their social security was so strong… Last I knew European countries were better about their obligations to the UN than the US, maybe that bleeds down into individual mentalities…

Comment by Brendan — May 21, 2009 @ 10:45 am

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sorry only hear say.. (a conversation that happened in the offline world)

Comment by Andre — May 21, 2009 @ 11:22 am

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+1

Comment by Andre — May 21, 2009 @ 11:23 am

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Bill takes 60 dollars out of your pocket for your new computer and Melinda gives 1 or 2 dollars of this money to charity (numbers of what Melinda gives are made up but the 60 dollars that go in bills companies pocket are accurate exept from the netbook where the amount equates to 7 usd because he struggeled against the free linux)

Comment by Andre — May 21, 2009 @ 11:26 am

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I'm not too concerned about how Bill makes his money as long as it's legal, and as long as he keeps on giving back.

Comment by kyleracine — May 21, 2009 @ 11:35 am

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Excellent, excellent, excellent post. Dang, you put a LOT of things into words that I've seen in Spanish-speaking America and the U.S.

Comment by Adina — May 21, 2009 @ 1:24 pm

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Good point! If you're already giving a big chunk of your income to charity, you figure you've done your part. This goes along with someone else's comment about people in Chile being more likely to give money to people begging on the streets that people in the US, where we have a Welfare system designed to help people in need (not that it always works, of course!) But here there are very few institutions to help people from falling through the cracks…

Comment by Margaret — May 21, 2009 @ 4:11 pm

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FYI – Sr Farkas lives in Vitacura… He does do a lot and gives a lot of his time, though the money he donates is not his own but rather from his company's coffers (which his partners are not so happy about). Either way it is still good that he does it, and more people should. I do think he is overly critical of others though, perhaps they are giving in their own way in a less overt and attention-seeking manner (the man drives a one of a kind hummer or his rolls, or else is chauffered around in his limo).

Comment by Steph — May 21, 2009 @ 5:13 pm

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Seriously?!?! That's super lame.

Comment by Abbyline — May 21, 2009 @ 7:35 pm

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I agree with you. I'm also from the SF Bay Area, so maybe we're just meaner than people in Tampa, but I don't think so. I feel like people at home are more likely to give to an organization that would help homeless people (or volunteer time) because they feel like a) often it's a more long-term solution and b) it's a safer bet that the money will go to food/shelter than giving it to someone who may use it to buy drugs or alcohol (of course the debate of whether it matters as long as the person feels better is a whole separate issue).

In Chile I don't see or hear people focusing on longer-term solutions that get to the root of the problem or setting up any kind of planned giving, but they do happily get out a moneda for a beggar.

Comment by emilyinchile — May 21, 2009 @ 7:54 pm

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I think you're right that a lot of the attitude that lower class people have toward the upper class is because there is such a huge divide. Whereas in the US I think people do feel that they can move up – even if they feel like it would take luck rather than just hard work – in Chile I think that some poorer people really cannot relate to people with more money. So much of it is perception too. Right now a friend is in a situation where he's not cuico by birth (grew up in La Florida) but lives in Providencia and has a comfortable life. A coworker always teases him about being cuico by saying stuff like “wow, who would have imagined you eating here” when they go to lunch at la vega. And this guy just cannot get it through his head that my friend got lucky and works hard but hasn't always lived in Providencia because to him, you are born and die in the same situation, and your address defines who you are.

Comment by emilyinchile — May 21, 2009 @ 7:58 pm

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Yeah S.'s friends sometimes tease him about living in Providencia too. And I even feel like I have to mention, “Well now I live in Providencia, but before that I lived in Estacion Central,” to clarify to people that I am not a cuica!

Comment by kyleracine — May 22, 2009 @ 7:28 am

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Steph, this is just my take on the whole thing…when I have money…and I do plan on being very, VERY rich someday When I have money I plan on wearing thousand dollar Christian Louboutin shoes and having some kind of beautiful waterfront house. I also plan on giving lots of money away. I think that helping with your money should always be a priority, but I also think if you earned that money that it's yours to spend as you wish. I don't fault the rich for being flashy.

Also I'm fairly certain that his teleton donation was private money. I know he's being sued by his business partners for giving away business money as charitable donations, but the Chilean news reported his teleton donation as his own money.

Comment by kyleracine — May 22, 2009 @ 7:41 am

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Haha, thanks Adina, I try

Comment by kyleracine — May 22, 2009 @ 7:42 am

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Good point Margaret! Although, I still feel like people in Tampa in the U.S. always give to beggars no matter what. I mean, there was a guy who worked the intersection right by where I lived and I would see people hand him 20's! And once at my school, a homeless guy came and lived in the common room of our dorm.

Comment by kyleracine — May 22, 2009 @ 7:46 am

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I once spent some time with a homeless person in Cambridge. He asked me for money for a burger. I said I will buy him a burger… He went with me. Half way there he said. “Hey Mate you really don't need to go with me I can get the burger”. I got a huge burger for him and after a coffee.

He later told me that if I had given him money it would have gone towards drugs. He was 10 pounds short for the next shot. Of course I did not give him the money. At the time he made about 50GBP per day begging which was then about 100 usd and is now about 80.

How can a beggar escape from the vicious cycle if he makes so much money begging.

Comment by Andre — May 22, 2009 @ 8:30 am

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And it's not like Providencia is really all that cuica either (and I do live in Provi)… I know people who consider it “downtown” and others who feel like they're slumming-it newly weds because they can only afford to live here and not in some barrio alto. Providencia is pretty much educated middle class and much of it is quickly turning commercial… In the end, it's all a matter of perception depending on our own particular starting point.

Comment by Margaret — May 22, 2009 @ 3:19 pm

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I know Margaret! One of my husband's ex-girlfriends had never taken the metro before she met him!!! You're right, it really is a matter of perception.

Comment by kyleracine — May 22, 2009 @ 4:04 pm

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I think in countries where there's a large and strong middle-class, there's less resentment against the upper class. But in Chile the middle class is still vulnerable, and it is a recent phenomenon.

Besides, in a ridiculously monolitic culture like the Chilean one, any perceived 'difference' attracts huge attention. So earning a bit more money becomes posh immediately.

Comment by Carlos — May 22, 2009 @ 5:50 pm

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The guy's a real character. The biggest thing that irks people about Farkas is his famboyance and ostentation. Wealthy Chileans are usually quite reserved about showing off (new money vs old money I guess). It's wonderful that he is generous, but why draw so much attention to that generosity? You have to question his motives.
I wrote a piece about him a while ago, which you can see at: http://cachandochile.wordpress.com/2008/12/02/f…

Comment by Margaret — May 23, 2009 @ 2:49 pm

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I went to see the “Isabel Sandoval Modas” at Teatro del Puente last night and kept thinking about all that's been said through this post… The play addresses issues of social class and arribismo (social climbing). I was so struck by it I wrote my own post on the play: http://cachandochile.wordpress.com/2009/05/24/i…

Comment by Margaret — May 24, 2009 @ 1:41 pm

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Hola! Te queria decir primero que me encanto tu blog (lei los posts en tu antiguo blogger). Soy chilena y me encanta conocer y saber sobre gringos aca en chile (se q es raro jajaja), y tu lo pones de manera muy entretenida Y tus fotos son hermosas
Bueno en este tema: yo soy del mundo cuico, no me considero cuica pero supongo que para muchos lo soy. AÃºn asÃ, mi familia no es de esas que desde el siglo XIX eran latifundistas y con apellidos tipo “RisopatrÃ³n”: mis abuelos de ambos lados son inmigrantes italianos que llegaron despues de la WWI, y ninguno con plata, simplemente trabajaron para ganarse la vida. Mi papa estudio en un liceo municipal y con beca estudio en la catolica. Mis papas trabajan mucho para mantener lo que ahora es un modo de vida acomodado, pero nunca he tenido la sensacion de haber nacido en cuna de oro, y fui educada para ser tolerante. Lo triste es que aÃºn con todo lo q trato de no ser, no puedo evitar de repente ponerme cuica y asustarme en algunos barrios, o reirme de los pokemones, lo que a fin de cuentas es patetico; pero lo mismo pasa al revez; cuando a mi me prejuician como la lais-burbuja que no tiene idea de la vida (o cuando yo me rio en la cara de una mina que nunca haya visto la Plaza Italia). Es muy dificil salir del circulo vicioso, en cualquier lado que estes, pero yo creo que las generaciones mas jovenes (de la que soy parte) cada vez miran menos eso; supongo que eso da esperanzas a que la estupidez de relacion de “clases” que hay en Chile de una vez desaparesca.
El resentimiento es muy peligroso…yo creo que todos estan asustados con eso…de repente puede explotar, sin que el gobierno ni nadie haya hecho cosas de largo plazo para que las cosas cambien…
Saludos!

Comment by fran — May 24, 2009 @ 4:24 pm

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Hola Fran! Gracias por haber pasado a visitar mi blog! Me alegro mucho que hayas dejado tus comentarios en el post, ya que la opinion de los Chilenos me interesa mucho pero son pocos que leen mi blog.

Yo creo que la auto-consciensia que tienes de saber que la gente te considera cuica y darte cuenta que te asustas en los barrios bajos aunque no quieres sentir miedo, tambien es otro tema. Podrias decir que vives una vida cuica (o sea…comoda) pero que no tienes, o tratas de no tener actitudes cuicos. Creo que tambien soy mas o menos asi.

Ojala que tengas razon que las cosas van cambiando, y a mi me gustaria pensar que si!

Bueno, al final, gracias por el aporte Fran, y ojala que sigas dejando tus comentarios aqui

Comment by kyleracine — May 24, 2009 @ 4:35 pm

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Sounds interesting, off to go read your post now

Comment by kyleracine — May 24, 2009 @ 4:35 pm

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That's true. In Chile the middle class is a small group, and relatively aren't very “middle.” In other countries with a more even income distribution they'd really be closer to upper lower class. So because of that lack of true middle class, the jump from lower to upper is an even bigger distinction.

Comment by kyleracine — May 24, 2009 @ 4:38 pm

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