The "Dual Society" Thesis in Latin America: A Reexamination of the Costa Rican Case.

Latin American nations have often been characterized as dual societies, that is, ones in which economic and value differences separate middle class from lower class and urban dweller from rural dweller. Whereas the economic differences have been well documented, value differences generally have been assumed. The findings of one empirical study of value differences in Latin America, a study conducted some years ago in Costa Rica, support the "dual society" thesis. This article reexamines that study and discovers that value homogeneity is a more accurate description of Costa Rican society. Improved, more appropriate data analysis techniques are responsible for the new finding. The implication is that if similar techniques were applied to other studies of Latin America, the dual society thesis might be invalidated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]