Anthropological analysis on the development model, and the social, political and economic inequality of Puerto Rico

Abstract

The following article present an ethnographic and historical analysis of the main political, economic and social problems of Puerto Rico. In addition, the article present an ethnographic description of the main problems related to poverty and urban gentrification that affect the living conditions of the marginalized communities. The communities where the data were obtained were: Los Filtros, Municipality of Guaynabo and La Perla, Municipality of San Juan. At the theoretical level, will be discussed a series of community ethnographic research focused on the analysis of poverty, development and political project of Puerto Rico. Such as: La Vida: A Puerto Rican Family in the Culture of Poverty by Oscar Lewis (1967). The following concepts will also be analyzed: “Innercity” by Phillipe Bourgois “In Search of Respect” (2010), and Urban Gentrification from the anthropological perspective by Conrad Phillip Kottak and Kathryn A. Kozaitis (2012). Finally, the article present a reflections of the current economic crisis and the most important events during the recovery process after the impact of the Hurricane Maria in 2017.