Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

DOMINICAN SOCIETY OF THE late
1990s reflects the country's
Spanish-African-Caribbean heritage. It manifests significant
divisions along the lines of race and class. A small fraction
of the populace controls great wealth, while the vast majority
struggles to get by. The small emerging middle class works both
to maintain and to extend its political and economic gains.
Generally speaking, Dominican society offers relatively few avenues
of advancement; most of those available allow families of
modest means only to enhance slightly or consolidate their
standing.
The majority of the population is mulatto, the offspring of
Africans and Europeans. The indigenous Amerindian population
had been virtually eliminated within half a century of initial
contact. Immigrants—European, Middle Eastern, Asian,
and Caribbean—arrived with each cycle of economic growth.
In general, skin color determines placement in the social hierarchy:
lighter skin is associated with higher social and economic
status. European immigrants and their offspring find
more ready acceptance at the upper reaches of society than do
darker-skinned Dominicans.
The decades following the end of the regime of Rafael
Leonidas Trujillo Molina (1930-61) have been a time of extensive
changes as large-scale rural-urban and international migration
have blurred the gulf between city and countryside.
Traditional attitudes persist: peasants continue to regard urban
dwellers with suspicion, and people in cities continue to think
of rural Dominicans as unsophisticated and naive. Nonetheless,
most families include several members who have migrated
to the republic's larger cities or to the United States. Migration
serves to relieve some of the pressures of population growth.
Moreover, cash remittances from abroad permit families of
moderate means to acquire assets and maintain a standard of
living far beyond what they might otherwise enjoy.
The alternatives available to poorer Dominicans are far
more limited. Legal emigration requires assets beyond the
reach of most, although some risk the water passage to Puerto
Rico. Many rural dwellers migrate instead to one of the republic's
cities. These newcomers, however, enjoy financial
resources and training far inferior to those prevailing among
families of moderate means. For the vast majority of the repub-
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