Class Parameters in Haitian Society

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Abstract
In attempting to define the parameters of Haitian society, three basic status pyramids will be employed, economic, social-occupational, and political. In each case, an effort will be made to distinguish between caste (inherited) and class (personally-achieved distinction) elements which seem to be present. These criteria will then be placed in comparison or opposition to the acid test of individual recognition of status and solidarity toward the class with which Haitians identify themselves. The absolute upper and lower limits of class in Haiti are not difficult to distinguish by economic or socio-occupational standards, and with a few notable exceptions there is a high degree of political correlation in that both the upper and lower groups participate very little in the political mechanism. Thus whereas these two groups are at opposite poles in the first two pyramids, they are essentially undistinguishable in the third.

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