DOCTORAL DISSERTATION SERIES

m*mm- mm mm m n
m a cm mu ctffet
itfTHOR THMti

AHM1S

mtH< SW£ CtU,

HA

pate

PUBLICATION NO.
illl

I

T M
-L P "

ANN AMOK • MICHIGAN

DECISION-MAKING- IN RELATION TO PROPERTY
ON A COSTA RICAN COFFEE ESTATE

By
Thomas Leonard Norris

A

THESIS

Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of Michigan
State College of Agriculture and Applied Science
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
DOCTOR

QT

PHILOSOPHY

Department of Sociology and Anthropology
1952

DECISION-MAKING IN RELATION TO PROPERTT
ON A COSTA RICAN COFFEE ESTATE

By
Thomas

AN

Leonard

Norris

ABSTRACT

Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of Michigan
State College of Agriculture and Applied Science
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
DOCTOR CF PHILOSOPHI
Department of Sociology and Anthropology

1952

Thomas Leonard Norris

ABSTRACT

The qiestions with which the study are concerned center in the
land, its uses, and the relations which obtain among the occupants of the
land in achieving those ends and goals towards which life on Aquiares,
a large coffee hacienda, is oriented. Mare specifically, the following
queries were formulated*
1* To discover how the population of the coffee estate
Is organized In terms of coffee production.
2. To describe the system and its sub-systems, especially
with regard to how peers, subordinates and superordinates
are identified in terms of the hlerarchichal authority
structure of the local community.
3. To determine how relationships to locally conceived
categories of property affect one* s membership and position
in a sub-system within the total structure of interpersonal
relations on the estate.
iu To describe how decisions aremm&i within the larger agricul­
tural system.
3>. To discover which structural positions in each sub-system
are most strategic in the decision-making process.
Aquiare% one of the largest coffee haciendas in the Turrlalba
Valley of Costa Rica, lies at the southeastern base of Turrialba volcano.
The estate contains 2,369 acres and supports a population of 1372 persons.
Seventy-eight families operate coffee lots as tenant farmers or sharecroppers
(colonos), and about one hundred and thirty families are day-wage employees.

Thomas Leonard Norris

The population is organized primarily in terms of coffee production.
Three systems characteristic of large Latin American hacienda^type estates
are found, namely, administrative, managerial, and peon systems. A fourth,
the colono system, is basically a tenant farmer or sharecropping operation,
but is not common in other places in Costa Rica.

Its importance for this

study lies in the fact that almost half of the total population on the
estate are colonos and their families. Furthermore, more than half of the
land in coffee is operated under the colonia system.
The rationale which accounts for the division of the labor

force into

systems such as the administrative, managerial, peon, and colono is
derived from the place which control of or possession of property
occupies as that measure recognized by the population which distinguishes
these systems.

The administrative system is so designated because its members

maintain the greatest degree of control over the property in question, namely
the estate. Managerial status permits one, by a system of tips, bonuses and
higher wages to accumulate not only more property than peons or colonos,
but also certain kinds of property to which prestige value is attached.

Few

colonos or peons can purchase a small independent farm, but this goal is
within easy reach of managerial employees. Difference in status between these
systems is further reflected in other Stems such as housing, radios, urban vs.
peon style clothing, iron stoves, shoes, etc.

Structural positions within each system are ordered by the general
organization of the estate.

In the administrative system, there is

a unilinear chain of authority and line of communication between the owner
and the administrator.

In the managerial system, the chain of authority is

somewhat split up between the overseer, foreman of the beneficio, chief

^hcmas Leonard Norris

carpenter atad sane specialists.
of the total labor

However, the overseer is in more direct control

force since he makes the initial assignments of laborers.

Competition among managerial employees is minimized, however,
explicit division of labor.

by a highly

The colono has higher status as a rule than the peoj

and this status differential can be traced to proximity to and control of
property or the means of. production.
Only sane decision-making processes involve the modification
of the behavior of others fraft nbrmal, expected channels. Usually,
d ed sion-making in Aqui^res is a highly explicit procedure in the sense
that there is seldom any doubt as to the locus of authority in the
situation under question.

A typical decision of this type would be that

of the overseer made each day relative to the work assignments for the
current day.

Three unusual decision-making situations are introduced

into the study to illustrate the dynamics of the decisionmaking process
when dealing with new and unique problems.

Such situations are particularly

relevant to the change agent since the consequences of his program imply
modification of established and traditional behavior patterns.

The

relations obtaining among positions of varying status in the general authority

■
i
!

hierarchy of the estate were altered but slightly in these atypical
situations.

Thus there is seme thing of a halo effect emanating from the

general organization and influencing the course of events in secondary
activities.
This study, in summary, is a descriptive and analytic account
canmunity organization around one major themes coffee production.

The problems

treated in the study are designed to further existing knowledge of Latin American
social systems as well as to provide a basis for applied'programs.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author Is grateful for the guidance and counsel
of Dr. Olen Leonard, the thesis advisor, Dr. Charles P. Loomis,
head of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and the
Area Research Center of Michigan State College, and to
Drs. Julio Morales and Ralph Allee of the Inter-American
Institute of Agricultural Sciences for the use of Institute
facilities.
Dr. Reed Powell’s pioneer work on the Community
Studies Project in the Turrialba area furnished a broad back­
ground of knowledge for large and small landholdings.
Mr. Charles H. Proctor and Mr. Norman H. Painter, co-workers
of the author In the field, have made Inestimable contributions
to the organization of the study.

Mr. Antonio Arce, assistant

sociologist at the Institute, gave invaluable aid in gaining
entrance into the community.

Among the many Aquiarenos who

gave time and effort were don G-ilberto Duran, don Carlos Rojas,
don Cerblliano Duran, don Ernesto Vargas, doHa Lena Jimenez,
don Jose "Pepe" Luna, and don Hector Vargas.
Prof. Kenneth Tiedke rendered valuable assistance
in organizing the data and Dr. John Holland offered many helpful

criticisms of the conceptual framework.

The author is grateful

to Dr. J. A llen Beegle for his time and effort in editing the
manuscript*

TABUS OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Statement of the proble
Strategy of research
Establishing a role
Special problems
Collecting data
CHAPTER II

THE SETTING
Site of the study
History of the estate
Production
Houses and buildings
Population
Tearly round
The Aquiares day
Life cycle in Aquiares

CHAPTER H I

THE AUTHORITY STRUCTURE

Formal structure
Emergence of systems
Socionetrie aspects of systems
General ranking
CHAPTER IV

THE ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM
Characteristics of the system
Patron
Artninistrator
Priest

Page
CHAPTER V

THE MANAGERIAL SYSTEM

92

Characteristics of the system
Overseer
Foreman of the beneficio
Chief carpenter
Chauffeur
Ccmmissary employees and stock managers
CHAPTER VI

THE COLONO AND ISONSYSTEMS.................. 110
Characteristics of the systems
Comparison of colono and peon systems

CHAPTER VII

THREE DECISIONS............................129
Election of a popularity queen
Meeting of the P.T.A.
The outhouse campaign

CHAPTER VIII

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS..................... UtU

BIBLIOGRAPHY

........................................... 155

APPENDIX I

RANK STANDING CF THE SAMITE OF HEADS CF HOUSEHOLDS
OCCUPATIONALLY BY SYSTEMS AS DETERMINED BY AVERAGE
RANK SCORES
.............157

AFH5NDIX II

METHODOLOGICAL NOTE: THE USE OF JUDGES . . . .

160

LIST CF TABLES

TABX£ I

TABUS

n

SOCIAL CONTACTS HADE BY THE PEOPLE OF
AQUIARES WITHIN AND WITHOUT THE
COIMUN3TY.
ACTUAL CONTACTS HADE BY THE PEGFIE OF
AQUIARES IN THE USB OF SERVICE CENTER
FACILITIES FOR A ONE TEAR PERIOD, 191+8.

TABUS III

DISTRIBUTION OF SOCICMETRIC CHOICES
EXPRESSING CUSAVAGES, INGROUP PREFERENCES,
AND GROUP PREFERENCES BT SYSTEMS: AQUIARES,
1952.

TABUS 17

DECISIONS IN THE POPULARITY QUEEN CONTEST

TABUS V

DECISIONS IN THE P.TJL. MEETING

TABUS 71

DECISIONS IN THE OUTHOUSE CAMPAIGN

LIST OF FIGURES

Page
Figure 1

LAND UTILIZATION IN CENTRAL DISTRICT,
TURRIALRA CANTON, COSTA RICA.

22

Figure 2

AQUIARES, TURRIALRA, COSTA RICA.

2i*

Figure 3

AQUIARES COFFEE BENEFICIO.

31

Figure U

GENERAL ORGANIZATION OF THE ESTATE:
AQUIARES, 1952*

6k

AGE, SEX, AND OCCUPATION IN THE
SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF AQUIARES, 1951.

78

Figure 5

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
In the fall of 1950* three area research assistants
from the Department of Sociology and Anthropology of Michigan
State College were assigned to the Department of Economics and
Rural Social Welfare of the Inter-American Institute of
Agricultural Sciences located in Turrialba, Costa Rica.

The

research activities in which they were to participate were a
part of a cooperative program then being developed between the
Institute and the Area Research Center of Michigan State College.
A research area of the Institute was the study of the
use of human and natural resources in terms of production.

As

a division of labor, the Department of Economics and Rural Social
Welfare undertook the analysis of levels and standards of living
in the Turrialba area as related to production per man unit,
and the investigators from the Department of Sociology and
Anthropology of Michigan State College assumed the responsibility
for a descriptive analysis of selected rural social systems in
Turrialba.

1.

Area research assistants were Charles H. Proctor, Norman W.
Painter, and the author, Dr. Charles P. Loomis, head of the
Department of Sociology and Anthropology and founder of the
Area Research Center of Michigan State College, arrived two
months earlier and remained until June 19, 1951•

i

2

The unit chosen for investigation in this particular
study was a single, large coffee estate.

Methodologically, the

study was designed to utilize field techniques commonly associated
with participant observation.

Activities of the field worker,

however, were not limited entirely to the agricultural system
of this large landholding.

The Institute desired other specific

kinds of information for use in other projects as needed.

As

the study developed, the field worker became Involved in such
activities as health and nutrition, the analysis and evaluation
of an extension program initiated through the local school system,
relations between this community and both the general and specific
programs of the Institute, and certain teaim projects initiated
by other members of the department.

Statement of the Problem
The questions with which this study is concerned
center in the land, its uses, and the relations which obtain
among the occupants of the land in achieving those ends and
goals towards which life on this estate is oriented.
two assumptions underlying these questions.

There are

First, it is

assumed that human Interaction and convergence of Interest give
rise to real and persistent patterns of Interrelations between
and among men.2
2.

Second, it is assumed that these patterns of

A. R. Radcliffe-Brown, The Nature of a Theoretical Natural
Science of Society, pp. 25-26. Chicago": University of
Chicago Bookstore, 1948.

interrelations are arranged to form social systems which can
be objectively described, classified, and interrelated.
With these assumptions in mind, the study was given
direction and focus by formulating the following more specific
queries:
1.

To discover how the population of the coffee^

estate was organized in terms of coffee production.
2.

To describe the system and its sub-systems,

especially with regard to how peers, subordinates, and superordlnates were Identified In terms of the hierarchical authority
structure of the local community.
3.

To determine how relationships to locally

conceived categories of property affected one's membership and
position In a sub-system within the total structure of Inter­
personal relations on the estate.
4.

To describe how decisions were made within the

larger agricultural system.
5.

To discover which structural positions In each

sub-system were most strategic In the decision-making process.

The data of the Inquiry are patterns of observed
inter-personal relations between and among positions within
the larger system and its sub-systems.

These are related to

the agricultural system as a going concern in terms of
reciprocal obligations, rights, duties, and immunities.

These

data are relevant not only to the goal of adding substantively
to knowledge of social systems, but also to the change programs
in which the Institute is engaged in cooperation with various
Latin American governments and international research
organlzations•

The Strategy of Research
Aquiares Hacienda was chosen as the site for the
research.

The reasons for Its selection were numerous, but

most Important were its relative stability as a community, its
unique colono system, its comparative isolation, and the fact
that it had not been subjected previously to long and constant
investigation by Institute personnel.
Within the framework of the social anthropological
approach, finding answers that lead to the development of
testable and relevant hypotheses is largely a function of the
strategy and experience of research Itself.

At least the

5

following phases are involved:

(1) initial entrance into the

community; (2) the establishment of a role acceptable to the
community at large; (3) the solution of special problems,
especially language, diet, and housing; and (k) the collection
of data through the medium of research techniques which abstract
from the universe selected material appropriate to an under­
standing of how the community operates in terms of the problems
which have been stated.
Initial entrance into the community.

Experience in

field work seems to indicate that the investigator can achieve
approved entrance into a community more effectively if he
possesses some prior notion of the social structure of the
community.

As suggested by Kluckhohn:
"In some societies it is absolutely crucial
that the field worker's first sponsors have
status or prestige. In stratified societies,
one can move down if one's original Identi­
fications are at or toward the top, but it
is difficult or impossible to work up the
scale."3
In the present study, the decision to enter the

community through the "top" was based not only on the assumption
that large haoienda-type estates are likely to be highly
stratified, but also on the consideration that this estate was
3*

C. Kluckhohn, "The Personal Document in Anthropological
Science" in The Use of Personal Documents in History.
Anthropology. and Sociology by Louis G-ottschalk, Clyde
Kluckhohn, and Robert Angell, pp. 110. New York: social
Science Research Council, Bulletin 53, 1945.

legally the private property of a citizen without whose express
approval entranoe into the community would have been legally
questionable and strategically inadvisable.
To initiate the field researoh, Dr. Charles P. Loomis,
Director of the Area Research Center, Mr. Antonio Arce, assistant
sociologist at the Institute, and the writer, who served as
field worker, met with the patron (owner) of the estate at his
office on the hacienda.
also present.

The administrator of the estate was

The proposed research was explained in terms of

the interests of the Area Research Center of Michigan State
College.

The field worker was introduced as a graduate student

interested in gathering data on the social life and customs of
local inhabitants.

Especial Interest was shown in the colono

(sharecropping) system which is part of the organization of the
estate and considered a unique approach to the solution of labor
shortages in Costa Rica.

The conversation was conducted in

Spanish for the first half hour of the interview, but shifted
to English when the assistant sociologist, Mr. Arce, illustrated
the work of a previous student in the form of eoclograms.

The

immediate interest of the administrator in the clique structure
of various nearby communities, as represented in the soclograms,
helped to reduce the formal atmosphere which had prevailed.
The interview terminated with the blanket approval of the study
by the patron.

7

The field worker and Mr* Aroe made several trips to
the estate during the ensuing weeks to arrange for food and
lodging.

Arrangements were made with members of the looal school

board to use the sohool for sleeping quarters until the field
worker could beoome sufficiently immersed in the local community
to make an appropriate choice of a family with which to live.
The police agent, whose wife was completing her twentieth year
as a teacher in the school, offered board.
A bed, linen, and a Coleman gas lamp were provided
by the Institute.

The Institute also supplied paper, desk

sqpplles, and transportation between the estate and the Institute.
The Institute also provided a minimum monthly subsistence
allowance.

Clothing, typewriter, photographic equipment and

personal articles were provided by the field worker.

The

administrator offered the use of horses on the estate.
Establishing & role.

The problems of entering a

strange community and establishing an acceptable role are
contingent not only upon the personality of the investigator,
but also upon the looal social structure.

A highly stratified

soolal system frequently is characterized by conflicts between
sub-systems and by varied ends, goals, and interests; henoe,
the field worker must decide with whom to identify and the
manner of effecting the identification.

8

The manner of gaining entrance into the community
often conditions the subsequent role whioh the field worker
assumes and with whioh he becomes identified.

Care was taken

in the interviews with the patron. members of the school board,
and police agent to emphasize that the field worker was from a
North American college and was merely making use of the
facilities of the Institute.
reasons.

This distinction was made for two

First, identification with an academic institution

far removed from local, regional, and national affairs, tended
to make the study appear potentially less dangerous to any local
vested interests.

Second, since the Institute is an organization

openly engaged in applied science in conjunction with action
programs, it would seem inevitable that there would be some
enemies in some, and perhaps all, strata with whioh there had
been contact.

In fact, workers at the Institute reported

numerous negative attitudes toward the Institute on the part
of people in the Turrialba area.

For these reasons, it seemed

desirable, at least in the beginning, to minimize identification
with the Institute while emphasizing the more "harmless" role of
the student from a foreign land.
While the study of native social life and customs was
given emphasis in approaching the patron. the study of coffee
production was stressed more among the natives themselves, although
the original interview included both elements.

9

Throughout the field experience, the field worker
perceived no hostility directed against himself.
mean that he achieved perfect rapport.

This does not

Some informants were

visibly nervous when confronted with an interview schedule, even
though they were well acquainted with the investigator.

Others

hesitated to make an appointment for an interview until assured
that the field worker's activities had the sanction of the patron.
There were a few instances in which informants flatly refused to
answer sociometric choice questions, though willing to complete
the remainder of the schedule.

On the whole, however, relations

with persons on all levels were cordial and amicable.
Special problems.
in Aquiares.

Spanish is spoken almost exclusively

The patron. who was of English extraction, and the

administrator, who was of Q-erman extraction, both spoke Spanish
fluently and used it in talking to each other and to native
personnel.

Although the field worker read, wrote and spoke

Spanish, certain localisms required mastery, and special forms
and usages were considered more appropriate in this area.**'
The field worker spent much of his first few weeks of
resldenoe in the company of the administrator, mandador (overseer),
foremen, and police agent, traveling around the estate.

In this

For example the formal "you" (usted) is used among members
of the immediate family rather than the familiar you" (tu),
a practice which varies in different parts of Hlspanoamerica.
The use of "tu" in Aquiares is largely confined to the patron
in addressing natives, among children and youth of the same
sex, and between godparents (padrlnos) and godchildren (ahlados)

way, he learned something about the complexities of coffee
production and began to acquire a vocabulary of terms associated
with coffee technology, without which conversation with the
natives would have been more difficult.

Other activities, such

as futbal (soccer), were of great local interest and special
vocabularies associated with them were learned as rapidly as
possible.
The wife of the police agent, who prepared the meals of
the field worker, was aware of the problem of adjusting to a
new diet, and cooperated willingly in providing a few items
which the field worker felt he could not forego, such as oatmeal
or boiled drinking water.5

The field worker always made an

effort to eat some of every food placed before him.

He assumed

that neighbor women would ask about the adjustment of the stranger
and consequently was concerned about giving a favorable impression
to his hosts.

From notions of North Americans with whomf thiey had

previous contact or had heard about, the hosts frankly admitted
5.

Health specialists who seem preoccupied with the failure of
the, natives to boil water in this area seem to have overlooked
the fact that these people seldom drink cold water as a
beverage. Generally, water is mixed with sugar cane and
boiled. This beverage, called "sweet water" (agua dulce).
is probably more popular than coffee, as well as less
expensive. The hosts of the field worker expressed amazement
at the quantities of plain water (four to five glasses daily)
which the field worker consumed. The comment was "why have
it plain when you can have it sweet?"

11

that they did not believe it possible for the field worker to
adjust to the native diet.

Perserverance in this matter

constituted, in the Judgment of the field worker, one of the
more strategic elements in establishing rapport.
After a month of residence, the approaching school
term made it necessary to consider other sleeping quarters.
This was a difficult problem since most housing units were over­
crowded.

Places with sufficient space for an additional guest

with all his paraphenalia were few.

Finally, arrangements were

made to rent a room in the home of a commissary worker.

The

house was old and in poor condition (slight pressure from the
thumb was sufficient to push a hole in the wall), but it was
close to the central area.

It overlooked the church, meat shop,

school, beneflclo (coffee processing plant), central office,
stable and afforded a view of the whole central housing area.
There was electricity at night, and the head of the family had
improvised a shower and built an outside privy.
water from a nearby stream.

A pipe brought

There were two children in the family,

a boy aged five, and a girl aged three.
Collecting data.

The following techniques were used

in gathering data while in the field:

(a) interviewing; (b)

direct observation using a check list and a set of life activity

categories suggested by Coon6; (c) participant observation;
(d) a schedule; and (e) private and public documents.

This wide

range of sources was necessitated by the responsibilities placed
upon the field worker to provide information to persons engaged
in other research at the Institute.

For this reason, a large

quantity of data not direotly relevant to this study were
gathered.

While this may have placed limitations in the sense

that the attention of the field worker was spread over a wide
area, it served to provide insight into many systems of relation­
ships which otherwise might have been overlooked.

It also posed

the problem of establishing the relationship of these systems to
those with which the field worker was primarily interested.
(a)

Interviewing.

The field worker held frequent

interviews with the patron who was. especially valuable in pro­
viding specific information on the history of the estate, the
rationale behind the colono system, and general problems in
coffee production.

The administrator invited the field worker

to dine in his home about every fifteen days, and the informal
conversations during these occasions brought out much valuable
information on the attitudes accompanying his position in the
estate organization as well as his conception of his own role.
6.

Dr. Paul Morrison of the Department of Oleography of Michigan
State College, who was then engaged in research in Turrialba
for the Office of Naval Research provided a list of questions
on coffee production which was useful. The life activity
categories used were taken from Carleton S. Coon's A Reader
in General Anthropology. New York: H. Holt, 1948/"

Formal and Informal interviews were conducted with the mandadores.
police agent, school officials, and various foremen.

They

frequently accompanied the field worker on his trips around
the estate, especially in the early period of residence.
Formal interviews and later correspondence were conducted with
a former superintendent of the estate.

This man had introduced

the oolono system, and after leaving his duties as superintendent,
rose to national prominence as Secretary of Agriculture of
Costa Rica.

He had long been engaged in research in agricultural

problems, and his experience as a private land owner, administra­
tor and manager gave him insight into the larger agricultural
problems of the nation, especially from the viewpoint of the
owners.

Formal Interviews were also held with two owners of

large estates in the Turrialba area, and a number of informal
interviews were ponduoted with Independent agriculturalists in
communities of small family-sized farms.

Interviews were also

held with doctors from the Social Security Hospital, school
administrative officials, priests, and visiting tradesmen such
as the local butcher, lottery vender, bread man, and door-todoor salesmen.
(b)

Direct observation.

Many of the activities in

coffee production are not described in detail in this study as

they have been documented elsewhere.

7

Dr. Paul C. Morrison

collaborated with the field worker in the attempt to describe
the technical aspects of coffee production, geographic features,
housing and buildings, and mapping, and provided the extensive
list of questions which served as a check list.
For a general overview of the life of the
community, the fifteen life activity categories suggested by
Coon were used as points of reference.

These include getting

raw materials; carrying; processing; trading; testing; and
experimenting; leading and deciding; teaching and learning;
sharing; mating, eating, drinking and feeding; playing;
fighting; entertaining, grooming and healing; and worshipping.8
Thus, church services and other religious observances,
recreational activities, economic pursuits, family life, eto.
were observed in detail.

?•

T. L. Norris and P. C. Morrison. Some Aspects o£ Morphology
and Life gn & Large Costa Rloan Coffee Flnoa and Aspects of.
OoffeeTroduotlon and Processing on a Large Costft fiigfljT
Coffee Flnoa. ( U n p u b l i s h e d paper read before the meeting of
the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts and Letters, Ann Arbor,
Mlehlgan, April 11, 1952).
(Unpublished manuscript, Department
of Geology and Geography, Michigan State College, East Lansing,
Michigan, 1952).

8.

C. S. Coon,

0£. oit. pp. 581-604.

15

(c)

Participant observation.

As rapport became more

evident, the field worker was able to actually participate in a
wider range of activities with greater frequency.

He attended

weddings, baptisms, family gatherings, oommittee meetings, wakes,
funerals, and Informal spontaneous gatherings, Insofar as he was
able to determine, as an expected and accepted participant.
Later, he was asked to assume responsibilities in the conduct
of fiestas, and served as a sponsor (padrlno) for the traditional
soccer match between Aqulares and Turrialba.
(d)

Schedule.

To facilitate the collection of the

wide range of data concerning problems in health, nutrition,
levels and standards of living being investigated by other
members of the Department of Economics and Rural Social Welfare
of the Institute, a schedule was prepared and administered.

In

order to maximize the benefit that might come through the
contacts made in administering the schedule, a sample larger
them may have been necessary was taken.9

The names of the two

hundred and six heads of households residing in the estate were
placed in a container, and one hundred names drawn by lottery
in the presenoe of the estate bookkeeper.

Because of the length

of the schedule, it was administered to the informants in either
two or three sessions of approximately fifteen to twenty minutes
9.

Dr. Reed Powell used a sample of *1-8 heads of households,
giving about a 25% sample, in a schedule administered in
19^8 in connection with a previous study. His oensus
estimates correspond to full coverage expressed in estate
records and the later census of 1950*

16

duratiQh'.

It was administered during the rainy season when

Intense downpours confined most of the laborers to their homes
for days at a time.

In this way, It was possible to completely

cover the sample with no omissions or substitutions.

One case

moved to San Jose before he could be Interviewed, but was
finally located so that the sample would be complete.

Aside

from the Information which this schedule offered, It performed
a unique function In that It maximized the Interaction of the
field worker with what is thought to be a representative sample
of the population.

The Inclement weather provided an Ideal

interview situation, for the visit of the field worker provided
a break In the prolonged confinement of the laborers during
the rains.

Thus, the sample brought him Into continuous first

hand contact with a wide range of Individuals occupying differ­
ing structural positions within the agricultural system, and it
carried him to every corner of the estate.

A portion of eaoh

interview, at the beginning and at the end, was devoted to small
talk, admiring children, and frequently answering questions
about life in the United States.

The local norms of hospitality

meant the offering and accepting of an invitation to share
coffee and bread with the head of the household.
were Beldom refused by the field worker.

These invitations

17

From the sample of one hundred heads of households,
the field worker seleoted ten Informants to serve as Judges for
ranking problems.

Unfortunately, cross-cultural field techniques

have not been sufficiently developed to provide a standardised
formula for the Isolation of those Individuals best suited for
different kinds of informant roles.

However, ranking problems

seem to indicate the need for informants who are acquainted with
a large segment of the population.

Apart from this criterion,

the selection of Judges, on the whole, depended upon the Judgment
of the field worker as to the usefulness and value of the
informant for the purposes at hand.
(e)

Private and public documents.

School children

were asked to write essays on "Our Town", "My Home", "My Family",
and "My School".

A contest was conducted among fifth and sixth

graders to assemble a large number of folk sayings and proverbs.
The field worker carried on correspondence with the administrator,
police agent, overseer, ex-superintendent, and commissary worker
after leaving Costa Rica.

The records of meetings conducted by

the Board of Education (Junta de Educaclon) and Parent-Teacher
Association (Patronato Escolar) were available for their entire
histories.

Certain records, such as blueprints of buildings,

maps of the estate, housing, and population records were available
from the estate files.

Note-taking constituted an important part of the field
research.

In the process of observing a specific coffee operation,

the investigator used a notebook freely, but during interviews
in which personal matters were discussed, the notebook was
frequently left behind and notes recorded following the interview.
Notes were typewritten twice or three times a week and a carbon
t

copy was left at the Institute.

The continuous first-hand

contact with the population places greater reliance upon the
persistent and recurring patterns and helps to avoid over­
emphasizing the dramatic or unusual.

It was the recording of

these recurring patterns that constituted the main objective of
the field experience.

CHAPTER II
THE SETTINGCosta Rica is bounded on the north by Nicaragua, on
the south by Panama, on the east by the Carribean Sea, and on
the west by the Pacific Ocean.

It covers an area of 19,238

square miles**- and has a total population of 835,000 lnhabitants2
of predominantly Spanish descent.
run longitudinally.

The mountains are inland and

They do not form a continuous chain but

are divided into two main groups, the northwest chain and the
southeast chain.

A transverse system, the Cordillera de Dota,

below Cartago, renders communications between the northern and
southern sections of the country more difficult.

Tropical

forests and savannas are found along the coastal sections up
to an altitude of 2900 feet.

As the surface rises to the central

plateau (Meseta Central) region, dense virgin forests begin to
appear at about 3°00 feet.

Oaks and chaparrals dominate around

8800 feet, and in the higher mountainous regions, the flora is
essentially sub-Andean.
100 Inches.

The annual mean rainfall is about

Tropical diseases are prevalent in altitudes of

less than 500 feet.
1.

Preston James.

2.

Ibid. p. 649.

Latin America (New York: 1950) P» 649.

The principal economic activities in Costa Rica are
coffee, "banana, and cattle production.

The "banana plantations

are found in the tropical lowlands of the coastal regions.
Coffee interests dominate in the central plateau.

Extensive

cattle industries are found in the province of Q-uanacaste.
Some gold has been mined in the region of the Coast of Nicoya.
The cultivation of maize is scattered throughout the meseta
central. and sugar oane is found in sub-tropical areas.

Lumber

enterprises exploit the reserves of mahogany, cedar, cooobolo
(a species of rosewood), brazilwood, ebony, balsa and mora.
Rubber, hemp, cacao, and tobacco are minor agricultural
enterprises.

Some dairying is found in the higher altitudes,

especially around Cartago.
Politically, the nation is divided into seven provinces,
which are subdivided into cantons.
divided into districts.

Each canton is in turn

Each province and each canton has its

own capltol.
Costa Rica is commonly thought of as a nation of family­
sized peasant farms.

A relatively recent survey showed 25*447

coffee farms, belonging to 21,576 owners and having a total
population of 1*14,026.3
3*

Census reports further indicate that

"Costa Rica (Summary of Current Economic Information)",
International Reference Service (U. S. Dept, of Commerce,
Office of International frade), Vol. 4, No. 10 (May, 1947):2.

21

holdings of less than ten manzanas (one manzana equals 1.727 acres)
predominate.

However, It Is not unusual for an Individual to

own a number of such farms and be reoorded as an Independent
owner In each case.

In the Turrlalba District, the region of

this study, peasant operators far outnumber the large estate
owners.

Their Importance diminishes, however, If quality and

quantity of holdings are compared or when the amount of peonage
Is taken into consideration.

The power of large estate owners

in national, regional, and local affairs weighs heavy In contrast
to the unorganized and comparatively powerless small operators.
Biesanz speaks of the present era as the "transition from peasantry
to peonage In Costa Rica."**

A more recent census provides an

estimate that something more than 45 percent of the agricultural
land Is in the hands of less than 7 percent of the farmers.5
Observation by this investigator seems to substantiate the position
of Biesanz in this matter, with the qualification that large
estates are not only becoming more and more predominant, but also
that they themselves are becoming larger and increasingly more
powerful in the agricultural life of the nation.^
k.

John and Mavis Biesanz, Costa Rican Life. (New York: 19*14),
P. 151.

5.

Sample Census of Agriculture. Costa Rica. 1950. Computation
from the raw data was made by dharles H. Proctor.

6.

The extent to which large landholdings are still dominant in
Latin America has not been adequately evaluated. Gteorge M.
McBride in Chile: Land and Society (New York: 1936) and
The Land Systems of Mexico (New York: 1923) considers that
large landnoldingi"”have continued to dominate these nations
since colonial times, in spite of agrarian "reforms."

688958

LAND
CENTRAL DISTRICT

CANTON

MIL 6 MOMIIM
m t

LEI$M - HiTIH

94

IU> U K nOH URMCtiniD AERIAL

The Site of the Study
Aquiares is located In the Turrialba Canton of Cartago
Province.

Coffee production Is the chief agricultural enterprise

of the Turrialba District.

The planting, cultivating, harvesting,

and processing of coffee form a complex of activities which
provides the baslo framework upon which the tapestry of economic
and social life In rural Turrialba Is woven.

Without an Intimate

knowledge of local conventional understandings and practices, the
observer cannot hope to gain even a superficial knowledge of how
coffee agricultural systems function as going concerns.

The more

salient elements of this coffee oomplex as manifested In the
Aquiares coffee estate are presented in this study; more adequate
and detailed analyses of coffee production will be found in
articles referred to previously.7
Hacienda Aquiares, one of the larger coffee plantations
In the Turrialba District, lies at the southeastern base of the
Turrialba volcano.

The estate covers an area of 2,369 acres,

393 of which are planted in coffee.

It is bounded by two rivers,

the Turrialba, which flows along the base of a ridge to the south,

7 . T. L. Norris and P. 0. Morrison, sj>. olt. Ch. I. fn.6 .

23

and the Aquiares, a tributary which flows along the base of
another ridge to the north.

Aquiares is situated on a rapidly

Q

rising slope to the northwest of Turrialba city.”

The land surface of the estate is rolling to rough and
is formed of extrusive volcanic materials.

A more complete

description of the soils and their origin is found in the following:
"Derived from volcanic rocks, the soils of
Aquiares are friable, dark red or brown, sandyclay loams, with high fertility, good organio
content, and a structure which favors rapid
moisture absorption. Their general excellence,
plus the fact that under-drainage is especially
good because of the porous nature of the under­
lying flow materials have helped to make this a
favored coffee area."9
The altitude of the estate ranges from 2,600 feet to
4,000 feet; at the central settlement it is about 3,200 feet.
Its altitude places the estate in a transition area between
"highland" (3,300-5,100 feet) and "lowland" coffee regions.10
Temperature and rainfall records are not available for the estate
itself, but data from the city of Turrialba (2000 feet elevation
and 3.7 miles from the lower reaches of the estate) offers an
adequate approximation.

To quote a previous report:

8.

See Figs. 1 and 2.

9.

T. L. Norris and P. C. Morrison, Aspects &£ Coffee Production
and Processing on & Large Costa Rican Coffee Finoa. unpublished
manuscript, (Michigan State College: 1 9 5 2 ) , p. 2.

10.

Ibid. p. 2.

Land Use in Turrialba and Map of Aaulares.

AQUIARES
TURRIALBA , COSTA RICA

1951

l e g e n d

BY

A

S U G AR

3

MAIN C O F F E E A R E A S
ROAD
-#»G A TE

T R A P IC H E

P .C . M O R R IS O N

AND

T .L .N O R R IS

DRAWN IN CARTOGRAPHY
LABO RATO RY
MICHIGAN STATE
C O LLEG E

• HOUSE

APPROXIMATE

SCALE

M ILE

MAN Z A N X s t ^ - - ^ ' ^

;SE6t!NSE
CANALES V ' - - - - - - - ■—

?vQ-kQN

POTRERO
GRANDE

VIEJAS

TEUTO N IA
:-;-:0ANAN

IN S E T
I
S
S
4
5
6
7
S
•
10
11
IS
IS
14
15
IS
IT
IS
IS
CO

CATARATA

LE G E N D

PATRON'S HOUSE
PATRON'S GAROEN
STOREHOUSE
JAIL
MEAT MARKET
SCHOOL
CHURCH
COFFEE B E N E FIC IO
BENEFICIO M ANDADOR'S HOUSE
WOOD SHED
OXEN FEEOING STALLS
CARPENTER SHOP
CARPENTER SHOP HEAO S HOUSE
FIRST MANDADOR'S HOUSE
CENTRAL O FFICE , COM MISSARY,
POLICE HEADQUARTERS B FIRST AID
STABLE
HOUSE OF ADMINISTRAOOR
BOOKKEEPER'S HOUSE
REFRESHM ENT STAND
SOCCER FIELD
APPROXIMATE
O
I—
FEET

CECI

£4LQMA
NUEVO

VIE JO

SPERANZA

SCALE
1320

Figure 2.

24

" . . . the warm month averages (are) between
63 and 72 degrees and the cold month between
63 and 67 degrees. These temperatures do not
differ significantly from the Meseta Central,
but annual rainfall, in the neighborhood of
100 inches, is much heavier than on the
Meseta Central."11
January, February and March have less rainfall than
other months.

However, the Meseta Central is distinctly dry

during these same months.

The contrasting amount of precipitation

between the two areas accounts for differences in yield, quality,
and differing methods of processing coffee.

The average yield of

14 faneeas (153.9 bushels) per manzana for the Central District
of Turrialba Canton is almost twice as great as the average yield
for the Meseta Central, although the coffee grown in the former
area is of poorer quality.

The greater precipitation conditions

the yearly round of activities and the methods used in drying
the beans.12

Between 1940-41 and 1950-51 the annual yield of

coffee from Aquiares averaged 1.4 percent of that for the whole
nation.^
History of the Farm
The Turrialba valley was settled permanently after
completion of a railroad in 1390 connecting Puerto Llmon with
11•

Ibid.p. 2.

12.

Ibid.p. 1.

13.

T. L. Norris and
P. C.Morrison, SomeAspects
of Morphology
and Life on a Large CostaHloan Coffee
Flnoa. p. 2.(unpublished
paper read before the meeting of the Michigan Academy of
Science, Arts and Letters, Ann Arbor, Michigan, April 11,
1952).

25

San Jose, the capitol.1^

With the introduction of adequate rail

transportation, farms were organized rapidly for the production
of the cash crops of sugar and coffee.
The present area covered by Aquiares was consolidated
into one farm in 1903 by a Jamaican of English parentage.

He

was one of eight brothers, all of whom eventually migrated to
Costa Rica and played important roles in the economic development
of the nation.
In 1903 the present area of Aquiares consisted of three
separate holdings.

The center section, with 150 manzanas of

coffee and 50 manzanas of pasture, had a processing plant
(beneflolo) and a drying machine (seoadora).

Another section of

50 manzanas. located toward the lower reaches of the farm, now
known as Teutonia (see Fig. 2), was owned by two Germans.

A

third section, a large uncultivated tract including the present
upper reaches of the estate, belonged to a native, Jaime Carranza.
During the first fifteen years following the consolida­
tion of the property in 1903, when the present owner purchased
the three seotions mentioned above, the estate was reorganized
and activities were expanded.
14*

Between 1903 and 1927, some

P* C. Morrison and J. Leon, "Sequent Occupance, Turrialba,
Central District, Costa Rica", Turrialba. Vol. I, No. 4,
PP. 135-193. April, 1951.

26

600 manzanas of coffee were planted and a small settlement of
20 houses for laborers (peones) was Increased to 200.

The

beneflclo was enlarged, three additional secadores Installed,
and central offices, a carpenter shop, school, church, and stable
were constructed.
In 1915 a sharecropping system was introduced under
the recommendation of the estate superintendent1^ and in the
first year, about 25 sharecroppers (colonos), selected from the
"best" peones on other holdings of the owner, were ceded lots
(colonias) of one to four manzanas each.

Today, there are about

seventy-eight sharecropper (colonos) on 3^1 manzanas given over
to colonias.
In 1940 sugar cane was Introduced and a sugar mill
(traplche) constructed.

The cane is planted on the higher

elevations of the estate (Fig. 1) where conditions for coffee
growth are not too satisfactory.

In 1950 there were 36 manzanas

of cane producing 32,500 atarros1^ and 520 manzanas in coffee
producing 7500 fanegas of beans ready for shipment.

There were

29^ manzanas in pasture and ^22 in forest and brush.1?

About

one third of the total coffee production of the estate was
15.

See Chapter I, p. 10.

16.

An atarro is an ox cart (carreta) full of cane.
measures about a ton.

17.

Fig. 1.

This

27

cultivated and harvested by a hired labor force on 179 manzanas.
while the remaining 3kl manzanas were operated by colonos.
Included in the land given over to pasture, forest, and brush
were an estimated 150 manzanas in gardens, residences, the central
area, roads, etc.
Production
Seedlings (manqultos).

The coffee nursery is located

in a large central pasture of the estate.

During the coffee

harvest select berries from superior trees are collected and in
March are planted in a well-prepared seed bed.

Five weeks later,

they are transplanted to the nursery itself (amaclgal).

The

nursery is prepared by skimming the weeds from the surface of the
ground with a machete or shovel.

The ground is then ploughed by

two laborers with an ox, one guiding the animal and the other
behind the plow.

After this, women go through the nursery break­

ing up the large and hard lumps with their fingers.

Low, parallel,

rectangular ridges (eras) are constructed and the seedlings
transplanted to them.

The plants remain in the nursery for about

a year, and then are moved to coffee groves (cafetales) to
replace old and defective trees.
in the nursery.

Ouineo plants provide the shade

28

Cultivation of the oafetales.

The coffee trees are

spaced In rows ahout eight and one fourth feet (three varas)
apart.

The plants In each row are staggered In relation to the

plants In adjacent rows in order to Increase the number of plants
which can be set out in one manzana.
are used in coffee groves.

In Costa Rica, shade trees

The most common types are the gulneo.

cau.llnlqull. guava. and poro.

The gulneo tree is trimmed twice

a year, the others only once, between January and June.1®
Coffee trees begin to bear after four or five years and
during the following ten years maintain maximum production.

In

Aquiares, however, there are a number of colonias which have
trees as old as thirty years still giving good yields.
The rainy season in the Turrialba valley brings with it
a more rapid growth, necessitating more frequent weeding of the
rows (calles) between coffee trees.

The palea. as this is called,

takes place from five to ten times a year in Aquiares, depending
upon the rate at which the beans are ripening in any given season.
The harvest.
September.

The coffee harvest begins early in

Since the berries ripen at different rates, it is

necessary to go through the groves a number of times before the
complete crop is harvested.

During the 1950-51 season, the coffee

groves were picked thirteen times before all the beans were harvested.
18.

Trimming the trees, whether shade or coffee, is called the
poda.

29

The most pressing problem which confronts coffee
growers in Costa Rica is securing an adequate labor supply during
this season.

The remainder of the year requires only a fraction

of the harvest force to maintain operations.

The colono system,

functioning in Aquiares since 1915, is a partial solution to
that problem.

The colonos contract to care for and harvest a

f>l6t of coffee for

a fixed rate per fanega

of berries produced.

The colono

and his family lives on a plot,

referred to as a

colonla in

a house provided by the estate.

With the help ofhis

family, he

carries out his contract.

system eliminatesthe

This

need for the estate to hire extra help during the
portion of the

harvest. That

coffee not Included in colonias is cared for by a

permanent day labor force of workers.
participate in the harvest.

Men, women, and children

If at any time during the year,

including the harvest, the estate has need for extra workers, the
colonos are bound by contract to supply it.
picking through two kinds of rewards:

The estate stimulates

(1 ) each basket of coffee

picked is worth a fixed amount of credit at the commissary and
tokens are distributed at the end of each day when the coffee is
brought in and

measured, and (2 ) each wage earner receivesdouble

pay during the week preceding Christmas.
Processing.
ox carts (carretas).

The estate collects the picked berries in
At the end of fcach day, at about 3 p.m.,

the carretas leave the center area in single file to pick up the

30

coffee which the day workers have picked in the areas operated
directly hy the estate.

Orie of the foremen (encargado) summons

the peones by blowing a whistle or sea shell horn (concha).

The

peones gather and spread their beans on burlap, separating the
green beans picked accidently from the ripe red beans.

Each peon

turns his coffee into a waiting carreta by the basketful (canasta),
and receives his credit tokens for each canasta as it is dumped
into the waiting cart.
In the mornings, carretas travel through the colonias
picking up the coffee from large storage boxes located on each
colonia.

When a colono has filled his box, he leaves a slip with

his number and the amount of coffee he has picked at the estate
office.

The overseer picks these up each night and gives his

instructions for the following day to the foreman in charge of
ox-cart transportation.

The ox drivers (boyeros) measure the

coffee when picking it up at the colonia. and a worker rechecks
it when the coffee is brought in at the beneflclo for processing.
The steps in the processing of coffee as it oocurs in
Aquiares can best be described by employing the following summary
from an article on the subject and by referring to Fig. 3:
"Arriving at the Aquiares beneflcio (Figure 3)
the loaded carreta is backed up to the reclbldor.
a cement receiving tank. Two peons in the tank
open the trap door on the back of the cart through
which the boyero shovels the coffee berries into

-STAIR

FLOOR
EVEL

I GALERON PARA CARRETAS
S M .T h' y

AW M ILL,
ARPENTER
HOP a POWER
ANT BUILDING
OCATED HERE

(CARJ S H E D)
IL O C K E R I
STAIR

HORNOS
(FURNA CES)

o o o o
p

SE C A D O R A S
_________(D R Y E R S )_________

I

II —II

MIDDLE
LEVEL

-STAIR

II

I

p

p

p

p

p

p

p

p

p

'S TA IR

GALERO N
(RO O FED
PATIO)

IN S E T -T O P

FLOOR

STAIR

TJ
>
-H
o

2
n

—

1

7

7

a

3 4 5

□ □ a

tr

□

„

6
7 7
CZI e □ □

1 1.
8

UJ
£
0
1

BO DEGA
(S T O R A G E )

8
8 8°
CZD 1=1 □=□□=□
■

■

o

■ _________

<

Q.

P A T IO

□
PILA8

EL

BROSA

R - RECIBIDOR (RECEIVER)
P - P IL A
(TANK OR RIN)
CANAL

DE

E -E S P U M A D O R A ( f l o a t e r )
Q -Q U E B R A D O R (BREAKER)
TRANSPORTE

(TRANSPORTATION

CA N A L)

SCALE

O

20

FEET
EX C EP T FOR
EQUIPMENT

LEGEND FOR INSET:
I

MESA

DE

ES C 06ED 0R AS
(CHECKERS

4

LAR G O S

Y

C 0R T08

5

SEPA R A D O R A

(SORTER)

TABLE)

LA B A T E A
(RE-CHECK)
MOCHA (SORTER)

(WIND

AQUIARES
PLAN
IN

BY

T. L.

CARTO GRAPHY

C LA S lF IC A D O R A

7

PELADO RA
(H U L L E R )
TO LBA
(BIN ABO VE DRYER)
ELEV AD O R (E L E V A T O R )

VIENTO

8

SEPARATOR)

■

COFFEE BENEFICIO

TURRIALBA,
DRAWN

A

6

COSTA RICA

NORRIS

8

P. C.

MORRISON

LA B O R A TO R Y , MICHIGAN

F igure 3

STATE

COLLEGE

(c

l a s s if ie r

)

31

a rectangular box having handles on each end.
This box holds a doble of berries. Small
quantities of berries left over after filling
the larger box are measured in a box about a
foot square and four inohes deep. This is
measured to halves. Each measure is recorded
on a talley board, after which the berries are
dumped from the measuring box to the floor of
the recibidor.
From here on, the described passage of the
coffee through the benefloio can best be followed
by frequent deference to the flow sheet (Figure 3 ).
From the recibidor, the berries are flushed by
water to the espumador (floater), a water-filled,
circular cement pit in which the heavier berries
sink to the bottom and the lighter ones, which
are Inferior, float to the surface. These lighter
berries are drawn off by flowing water through a
channel to a special quebrador (breaking machine)
consisting of large rotating, iron-rimmed, cement
wheels.
The heavier berries are carried by water running
from the bottom of the espumadora tfl quebradoras
consisting of rotating drums. These breaking
machines, four in number, snap the shell and
pulp off of the berries. This waste, being more
buoyant than the beans, floats off down a channel
which circles one end of the pixtio (drying floor)
to be dumped into shallow tanks called pllas de
brosa. The pilas are two feet deep on the patio
side and about six inohes deep on the side next
to the road. Here excess water is drained from
the waste, which is then shoveled into carretas
and hauled to the cafetales to be used as
fertilizer.
Meanwhile the cleaned coffee beans have passed
from the quebradoras into the pllas (tanks) on
the middle floor level about the patio. In these
pilas the beans ferment until a hand test
determines that the mlel layer (honey-like film)
will easily slip off, but they never remain here
more than thirty-six hours . . . The running
water which carries the beans to the patio drying
floor usually removes the miel, although on rare
occasions, when the weather is too cool, it has
to be cut off by passing hot water over beans in
the pilas.

In the channel into which the beans are flushed
from the fermentation pllas for movement around
the patio to the four pilas adjoining the pllas
de brosa, the running water not only removes the
miel, but sorts the beans by weight, the lighter
beans floating with greater speed and the
heavier ones lagging :behind. This sorting is
facilitated by six peons with wooden paddles who
push the beans backward up the channel, letting
the lighter ones flow past over the top of the
paddles and holding back the heavier ones that
move on the channel bottom. When the lighter
beans have been flushed into one of the pilas
at the end of the channel, this plla is closed
and another is opened to receive the heavier
beans.
Prom the recibidor to this point the movement
of the coffee has been by running water. The
beneficlo is so located on a slope that the
water of a creek can be diverted into its upper
level, move by gravity flow through the middle
level to the patio level, and away. Water from
the same source runs plant machinery and
generates the electricity used in lighting. A
dependable supply of clean water moving by
gravity is thus a requisite for efficient and
successful operation of the Aquiares beneficlo.
Movement of beans from the fermentation pilas to
the pilas by the patio lasts about three hours a
day. Different classes of beans, as determined
by the sorting action of the water in the trans­
portation channel, are flowed in succession into
different pllas. The first of each lot of coffee
to^come through the channel is known as oabeza de
cano. This is regarded as a quality slightly
inferior beoause it washes through the channel so
quickly it hasn't much chanoe to be properly
classified. Consequently it is collected in one
pila and then carried by carreta back around to
be put through the washing and sorting process
again with the following lot.
From the final receiving pilas the coffee, other
than the cabeza de cano, is shoveled into hand
carts which have a small trap door at the back.
Shovels are entirely of wood and are made by a
local craftsman. If the weather is good, and

there is plenty of sun, the carts are wheeled
onto the patio, the trap door Opened, and the
beans spilled out in rows. Later, peons with
long handled raises spread, turn and re-turn
the beans to facilitate drying.
The beans are never dried completely on the
patio, as is often the case in the Meseta
Central. They are usually left there about
four hours, chiefly to get all the surface
water off of them, but if the sun is hot and
constant, they remain there even less time.
Prom the patio, the coffee is moved in hand
carts to bucket-type elevators which raise it
to the top floor of the beneficlo and there
dump it into four bins. Each bin has an outlet
leading to one of four secadores (drying
machines) on the floor 'below. Each secadora
is supplied heat by a furnace which b u m s
cascara blanoa. the white inner hull removed
from the coffee beans just before shipping,
and wood cut by finca peons.
If dried well on the patio, the beans may
remain in the secadores as little as twenty
hours, but if the weather is Inclement, they
will be held there as long as thirty-six hours.
The drying drums rotate, thus continuously
turning the coffee in warm air blown in from
the furnaces to maintain a seventy degree
Centigrade interior temperature.
Leaving the secadores the dried coffee is again
raised to the top floor by bucket elevators.
There It is commonly stored for a few days in
a bodega (store room) built across one end of
the floor. Storage is in bags, except during
rush periods when the coffee is piled on the
floor in bulk.
After removal from storage the beans are
usually put through machines which further
classify them by size, shape, and weight. In
one machine, the claslfloadora. they are pulled
by a revolving screw over a screen whose varied
sized holes separate them by size and shape.
In another, the separadora a vlento. the beans
are sorted by blown air according to weight.

34

Following this, girls seated at long tables,
known as mesas de esoogaderas. check the beans,
These girls, ages 9 to 14 years, are daughters
of the head of the beneficlo. the general
mandador, the head of the machine shop, the
police agent, and others of higher social
status. Since everyone takes part In the
harvest activities, this Is considered a
choice Job for here the young girl oan be
better protected from gossip and possible
molestation by the opposite sex than if she
were picking in the cafetales. In an eight
hour work day a girl will check about two
bags of coffee weighing 70 kilos (155 pounds)
eaoh. For this she is paid 1.70 colones per
bag.
As each girl finishes checking a quantity of
coffee, it is rechecked by a supervisor seated
at another table oalled la batea. The coffee
can be sorted into as many as ten classes, but
usually it is divided into only four; one
European bound; another destined for the
United States; and two of inferior quality for
Costa Rican consumption.
The final process Just before shipping is
removal of the hull from the bean by a peladora.
This machine also polishes those beans bound
for Europe by throwing them against an interior
bronze finish. After hulling, the ooffee is
spouted into bags by a worker who weighs each
bag and sews it up when filled. European-grade
coffee is bagged in high quality burlap; the
rest in bags of domestically produced cabuya.
sisal, or abaca. The bags of coffee are trucked
to Turrialba, carried from there to Puerto Limon
on the Caribbean, and thenoe transported by ships
to world markets.
19.

T. L. Norris and P. C. Morrison, Aspects of Ooffee
Production and Processing on & Large Costa Rican Coffee
Flnoa. Part I. pp. 8 - 1 2 . (unpublished manuscript,
department of Geology and Geography, Michigan State College,
East Lansing, Michigan, 1952).

Houseb and Buildings
The land use map (Fig. 1) illustrates the utilization
of the entire estate in terms of crops, pasture, forest,
brush.

and

The inset in Fig. 2 indicates the distribution of

buildings in the central area.

The house of the owner (patron)

is the largest and most "modern" of the residences on the estate.
It includes a living room, dining room, kitchen, servants
quarters, guest rooms, and a glassed-in porch.
within and painted both inside and out.

It is plastered

There is hot and cold

running water, continuous electricity, and a garage.
The house of the administrator (admlnlstrador) is the
second largest

residence.

It has a living room, kitchenand

store rooms, bedrooms, bath, servants' quarters, glass windows,
inside plaster, and exterior paint.

There is running water,

electricity at night, and the residence is Isolated by high hedges.
The bookkeeper (contador), overseer (mandador). and
foreman of the beneficlo (mandador del beneficlo) live in houses
of similar style, except that the house of the bookkeeper is new
and has glass windows, While the others are about fifteen years
old and have windows with shutters which open inwardly.

The

siding consists of vertical board panels and are square, measuring
twenty-seven feet on a side.
central hall.

There are six rooms leading into a

From front to back on one side are the living room,

3S

bedroom and dining room; on the other, are two bedrooms and a
kitchen.

The inside partitions consist of vertical panels.

These houses are painted grey on the exterior and have running
water, a shower and electricity at night.

The privies are apart

from the house to the rear.
The chief carpenter has the largest employee residence,
built in the style predominating on the estate.

It has six rooms,

vertioal plank walls, running water, a shower, electricity at
night, broad rough plank floors, and a privy.

The exterior and

Interior are whitewashed.
The remaining houses on the estate have two or three
rooms, vertical plank walls, and are whitewashed outside.

The

only exceptions are six new houses in the colonlaa which have
four rooms and a separate kitchen.

Except for houses in the

central area belonging to persons in managerial or specialist
categories, there are no facilities such as electricity, running
water or privies.

There are frequent modifications of the basic

two or three room design, but peones are reluctant to make changes
since alterations require the permission of the estate authority
and become estate property.
The two-room houses are twenty feet by thirteen feet;
the larger three-room houses are thirty-three feet by thirteen
feet.

Each has a narrow porch which runs the length of the house.

37

The houses are slightly raised from the ground, have broad rough
plank floors, no ceilings, vertical plank partitions, and are
whitewashed on the outside.
windows.

None of these houses have glass

Persons in the central area who have higher Incomes

may have an iron stove to supplant the crude fogon. a cooking
stove consisting of a metal sheet supported by bricks on a table*
Water is piped to a few of these houses.

At Palomar Viejo, there

is an outlet from which residents obtain water.

Less than ten

percent of the local population have privies, and the people are
accustomed to using the oafetales or brush.

Water for drinking

or for bathing is carried from streams or springs; in some
instances, bathing is done in ditches and streams*
Inside furniture in the homes of neones consists of a
few crude benches, one or two beds, some four-legged stools, a
moledero (plank along the kitchen wall used as a table on which
food is prepared and eaten).
provided with wooden slats.

Beds do not have mattresses but are
It is necessary for some members of

large families to sleep on the floors of the living room or
kitchen*

In this case blankets or mats of banana stems are used.

Cooking by fogon means that kitchens are smoke-filled most of the
time, since no chimney is provided for this style of oooking.
The central offices are located with the commissary,
police office, and first-aid station in a building at the center
area, as lndloated in Fig. 2 (16).

Nearby is the stable (16),

$8

the church (7), and the school (6).
Jail (4), and a supply house (3).
shop (5).

Behind the school are the
Beside the school Is the meat

The beneflclo. carpenter shop, and smithy are situated

together (8, 12).

The traplche is in the oolonlas.
The Population

Approximately 1372 persons live within the hounds of
the estate.

On January 1, I960, there were 75 families with a

total of 54? persons living in colonias. and 132 families,
including managerial and administrative personnel, and peones
living in the center area, a total of 825 persons.

20

The average

length of residence for heads of households is 24 years.21

Sixty-

four percent of these heads of households were horn in Aquiares;
twenty-one percent came from other farms owned hy the patron: and
sixteen percent were recruited from Turrialha or San Jose.

Thus,

eighty-five percent of the heads of households have ties with the
patron, either through hlrth on the estate or through some previous
association with the patron on another of his enterprises.
Originally, the task of recruiting lahor for the estate
was the duty of the general superintendent of the various enter­
prises.

The colono system was conceived as a device hy which a

permanent lahor force could he secured at a minimum of cost.

The

plan was to hrlng groups of families from other established farms
20.

Computed from the estate roster of housing and occupants.

21.

Computed from the schedule administered hy the field worker.

99

of the patron.

This scheme was calculated to facilitate the

adjustment of the laborers to the new situation.

The recruiting

was "selective" in that only those laborers who possessed qualities
desired by the patron (respect and obedience for authority,
industriousness, etc.) were imported.

With some minor variations,

the original oolonos were ceded about three manzanas per family
of five persons.

A house was erected on each oolonla and the

head of the family entered into a contractual agreement with the
patron.

Laborers and additional colonos were recruited from

DeBamparados, San Antonio, Patarra, San Pedro Monte de Oca,
San Francisco de Dos Rios, and Tree Rios.

The superintendent

also recruited some workers from the estate of his own father in
Tree Rios, as indioated by the following interview notes;
I only kept for Aquiares the peones I liked
best • • . 1 reckon I moved five thousand
families in fifteen years to the Turrialba
area.
The superintendent selected and trained those who now
occupy the principal managerial positions, and on more than one
occasion the overseer and foreman of the beneflolo remarked that
"he taught us all we know."

Certain families have become

associated traditionally with specific activities.

The care of

stock and the supervision of the ox cart crews have been the
responsibility of two families for more than three generations.
The overseer's father was a mandador for the patron, and the

TABLE I
SOCIAL CONTACTS MADE BY THE PEOPLE OF AQUIARES
WITHIN AND WITHOUT THE COMMUNITY,*
Type
Contact

Other
Aquiares
Turrialba
Totals
Numoer
iercent
Numoer
.Hercent
Numoer rercen'G jNumoer ±ercent

Service^
Center

36693

100.

32441

88.41

4133

11.26

119

.32

Social
o
Activities 19737

100.

18932

95.92

760

3.85

45

.23

26

100.

25

96.00

1

4.00

—

613

100.

58

9.46

551

89.88

4

.65

Religion5

1770

100.

1560

88.13

195

11.02

15

.85

Public
*
Services®

3168

100.

2527

79.77

629

19.85

12

.36

62007

100.

55543

89.58

6269

10.11

195

.31

Education®
Health4

TOTAL

—

*

Baaed on a twenty-five percent random sample, consisting of
forty-eight families, made in connection with the cooperative
community study project of the Department of Economics and
Rural Life, Inter-American Institute of Agricultural Sciences,
and the Area Research Center of Michigan State College. Table
from Norman W. Painter, "Locality Systems as Aspects of Human
Ecology," in Charles P. Loomis, et al, The Anatomy of a
Costa Rican Community. (Publication In preparation: 1952),

1

Service Center items analyzed include: clothing, grooeries,
vegetables, butcher store, dairy, bakery, hardware store, shoe
store, drug store, cantina.

2

Social Activity items analyzed include: Formal visltings, other
visits, meetings with friends, movies, football.

3

Education items analyzed include: Primary and secondary schools.

4

Health items analyzed include: Social Security Hospital,
Sanitary Health Center, dentist, doctor, obstetric nurse,
midwife, "curandero."

5

Religion:

6

Public lervloe items: Bank, post office, telegraph, railway, bus.

Church and Catholic Action Organization.

*10

present overseer is training sons for managerial positions.
Another family has provided the bulk of personal servants and
chauffeurs for the patron.

The present foreman of the beneflolo

took over from his older brother and is training a son for the
Job.

The chief carpenter is similarly apprenticing his sons for

his speolalty.
Basic to the people's feelings of identification with
Aquiares is the relative isolation of the estate from other
communities.

The trail leading to Santa Cruz (Fig. 1) is

difficult even by foot and takes about an hour and a half by
horse.

A foot path leads to El Banco, a small scattered settlement

of independent farms, but the trail leads across a river with no
bridge and it is difficult to cross the stream in the rainy season.
Furthermore, El Banco offers none of the services found in
Santa Cruz or Turrialba city.

A good paved road leads from the

farm to Turrialba city.

The chauffeur of the patron operates a

bus service on weekends.

Most trips to Turrialba are either by

bus or on foot.

The bus trip takes twenty minutes while the trip

on foot takes an hour and three quarters.
The estate provides for most of the immediate needs
during the week.

The sohool, butcher shop, and commissary are

located in the center area.

All of the personnel of the estate

normally work within the confines of the estate, except on
occasions when the patron is requested to send work crews to other

TABLE I I

ACTUAL CONTACTS MADE BY THE PEOPLE OP AQUIARES IN THE USE
OP SERVICE CENTER FACILITIES FOR A ONE YEAR PERIOD, 1948.*
Service

Total
Contacts

Other
Turrialba
Aquiares
NunDa? «roent Number itercenft Number Ifercent
—

137

87

21

13

1736

29

12

—

—

24

2

52

1

Clothing

158

Groceries

6106

4358

71

Vegetables

1480

1456

98

—

13336

13104

98

108

1

Dairy

6935

6935

100

Bakery

6518

5506

84

1012

16

Hardware Store

91

27

30

60

66

4

4

Shoe Store

71

—

65

92

8

8

Drug Store

1964

909

46

41

100

Butcher Shop

Cantina

411

—

1055
—

54
—

—

—

—

—

—

—

*

Based on a twenty-five percent random sample, consisting of fortyeight families, made in connection with the cooperative community
study project of the Department of Economics and Rural Life, InterAmerican Institute of Agricultural Sciences, and the Area Research
Center of Michigan State College. Table from Norman W. Painter,
"Locality Systems as Aspects of Human Ecology,11 Chap. VII in
Charles P. Loomis, et al, The Anatomy of a Costa Rican Community.
(Publication in preparation: 1952}.

1

The Flnca owner does not permit the sale of alcohol on the hacienda.
This figure of 41 does not represent actual number of oontacts,
but rather the number of persons (out of the sample of 48) who
make use of the cantinas in Turrialba.

41

estates.

Pew persons on the estate have regular contact with the

outside during the week.

The chauffeur carries coffee to

Turrialba and gets commissary supplies once a week.
carrier rides by horse to Turrialba daily.

The mall

The administrator

drives to Turrialba in the station wagon once a week to pick up
the payroll at the bank.
towards Turrialba.

Only on weekends is there much movement

A previous study Indicated that 89.58 percent

of all contacts made by the population in social activities,
public services, religion, health, and education were within the
community.

Tables I and II Indicate social contacts of people

in Aquiares and their use of service facilities.
The Yearly Round
Economic.

The annual round of activities connected

with coffee production sets the tempo of communal life, for the
Aqularian follows the life history of the coffee bean, from
harvest to harvest.

During the last ten years coffee harvested

on Aquiares has varied between five hundred thousand an a
million pounds of processed beans per annum.
In late January, the harvest begins to slow down.
final ripe beans are picked.

The

The labor needed for the final

scanning is not great, and crews of peones are diverted to
cleaning the aisles between coffee rows by shoveling the weeds
(the palea).

The weeds are skimmed off of the surface and are

heaped along with fallen leaves and dirt around the base of the

trees.

At this time, the long task of trimming the shade and

coffee trees Is started.

The older men stay on the ground with

the lower trees, while the younger and more supple hoys ascend
the tall trees.

A sure signal of the beginning of trimming

activities, called the poda. Is the continual falsetto hooting
which the boys oarry on In the trees.

They never seem to tire of

this unrefined yodeling, if such It may be called.

The trimming

Is done with machetes and a club (maleta) which Is tapped against
the.machete to get the required "cut" (corte).
deal of folk knowledge about this activity.

There Is a good

For example, one must

have the "right warmth" In the palm of his hand when handling the
machete.

Or he must have a "feeling" for the correct type of out

which must be made in removing a dead or defective branch from a
coffee tree.

Formerly, the trimming of coffee trees was done In

work crews of peones on the coffee estate, and by each Individual
colono and his family on respective oolonlas.

Now, each oolonla

belongs to a section under the supervision of an encarcado
(foreman, crew boss).

Each section of oolonos trim the trees for

all of the oolonos included in the section.

They work on one

oolonla at a time under the supervision of the encargado.

The

administrator and overseer say that colonos were becoming careless
In the care of their trees, and the poda Is considered a delicate
and Important operation.

hi
The aboreal life of the younger men trimming tall shade
trees is inevitably accompanied by a number of accidents, due
chiefly to carelessness in using the machete.

Most of these

accidents are cuts on the legs and feet, and the police agent is
kept busy during this season dressing wounds sustained in the trees.
During February, a final ooglda or picking is carried on,
and all beans, whether ripe or not, are harvested.

The trimming

continues and dead or defective trees are pulled out.

The wood is

collected and cut up for fire wood to be used by the peones and
oolonos.

It Is the responsibility of each family to secure their

own firewood, but there is an ample supply for all.
In March, the coffee seeds which have been selected for the
nursery are planted.

During April, the rows between coffee trees

are again cleaned and the debris heaped around the trees.

Trimming

trees, cutting wood, and cleaning the lots continue through May until
June when the new coffee plants are set out.

Fertilizer is applied.

The holes created by pulling out old and defective trees are filled
in to receive the new plants.
Colono production accounts are settled in July, and with
the liquidation of the coffee accounts comes a certain number of
changes in residence and moving.

Some oolonos are given better lots

if their records have been satisfactory.

Others, unsuccessful as

oolonos. revert to peon status or leave the estate.

A few new

kk
contracts are available for pe one a or outsiders.

In late July,

the younger shoots at the top of the coffee trees are cut to
prevent the plants from growing too tall for the pickers.

The

coffee groves are cleaned again.
During the month of August, the gulneo and banana trees
are trimmed again.
cut out.

Weeds and small bushes in the pasture areas are

The heavy rains have fallen and the trunks of the coffee

trees are covered with moss-like growths.

During the latter part

of August and early September, this growth is removed with a wooden
knife.

The berries are almost ripe, and Just before the harvest

begins the coffee groves are again cleaned so that beans which fall
from the trees during the heavy rains or while the harvesters are
disturbing the branches may be easily picked up from the ground.
Toward the end of September, the harvest begins in full
swing.

School lets out in time for the harvest.

Permission is

secured from the priest to work on Sundays if necessary.

Men,

women and children begin the long task of going through the coffee
groves from five to thirteen times during the harvest season.
beneflclo opens to process the coffee as it is brought in.

The

The

harvest continues through late January or February.
Religious.

Aquiares is dominantly Catholic.

Only the

family of the administrator and the patron himself are not Catholic.
But the administration supports the activities of the ohuroh and is

i+5

anxious that religious dissension be kept to a minimum.

To the

investigator, only one case of religious devlancy was obvious.
The chief carpenter Is known to read "atheisticH books and to
hold antl-Cathollc sentiments.

However, he does not interfere

in the religious education or activities of his family, nor does
he actively preach any faith nor does he publicly attack the
church.

The gardener of the patron is thought to be an

"evangelico" (Protestant) by local inhabitants, although he
attended mass regularly and gave outward appearances of being an
adherent to Oatholloism.
Every other week, the priest comes to Aquiares for the
weekend to say masses and hear confessions.

The church is full

at both masses on Sunday, and contrary to the usual pattern in
Latin America, the men outnumber the women.

Attendance at mass

on weekdays when the priest is present from time to time is
limited almost exclusively to women.
Christmas, Holy Week, and the Fiesta Patronal are the
high holidays in the life of the community.
these events begin weeks beforehand.

Preparations for

There are also eight holy

days of obligation during which work is suspended and the usual
masses are said.
A few days before Christmas most families place a
manger scene in the living room of their homes.

This remains

until the family sets a date for a Mvela“ when friends and
relatives will he invited in to Bay the rosary.

A lay prayer

leader is hired and usually some musicians are secured for the
occasions.

This occasion takes on a distinctly social flavor.

Higher status families serve rum and wine and chlcha. cigarettes,
and sandwiches, cookies and coffee.

Poorer families rely on corn

liquor, chlcha. coffee, and bread for their guests.

These

occasions frequently become hilarious, and even riotous, especially
in the colonias which are somewhat removed from the central area
and the watchful eye of the police agent.

Sometimes the religious

festivities may be put aside for dancing as the guests beoome
more and more Intoxicated from the drinks served between each
rosary.

The Investigator was present on several occasions when

both dancing and fighting took place.

These rites go on through

January, although they are supposed to be terminated within about
thirty days after Christmas.

Among higher status families, the

vela tends to be a more subdued and conventional affair.

The

guests are selected carefully and care is taken to see that the
ceremonies are in hand at all times.

The rosary is recited from

three to four times and the gathering disbands early.

Among

lower status families, the rosary may be recited throughout the
entire night.
The processions and services of Holy Week are a genuine
community affair.

Processions begin on Holy Thursday and are

conducted every day until Easter Sunday morning.

There is some

hi

competition for the roles assigned to persons taking part in the
drama that the processions represent, and choice roles go to
people of higher statuB.

The entire community turns out for

these affairs, and there are a number of visitors from the
neighboring towns of Santa Cruz. El Banco, and Santa Rosa.
Relatives from Turrialba and San Jose, or other parts of the
republic customarily make their annual visits at this time.
That the observance of Holy Week is not as pious as the old
priest would like was expressed by him in these words:
"In Aquiares during Holy Week, there is much
procession and little confession."
The climax of Holy Week ocours on Easter Sunday morning.
The bells are silenced on Friday and fireworks are used to
announce Impending services.

Boys are given all sorts of wooden

nolse-makers which they operate during the processions and before
the Sunday morning service.

The choir from Turrialba is usually

hired for the late mass, and the altar is profusely decorated
with flowers.

Following the mass, the person playing the role

of Judas reads a last will and testament of Judas in which he
leaves ridiculous things to persons in the local community.

Some

of these inheritance articles are designed to poke fun at or
criticize the persons to whom* they are left.

The article is

designated in verse and Judas reads his testament on a high rock
above the crowd of people.

That the Testament contained a verse

leaving the field worker a pair of binoculars with which to better

48

peer into the lives of others indicates, in humorous form, the
underlying sarcasm and satire reflected in these verses.

Formerly,

it is said, these testaments were especially barbed and cruel,
On more than one occasion in the past, this part of the cere­
monies of Holy Week resulted in violence and ill-feelings.
Today, the verses are less insulting, and the patron. administrator.
police agent, priest and overseer are immtlne from negative
treatment in these verses.

Following the recitation of the

testament, an effigy of Judas, stuffed with firecrackers and
soaked in gasoline is strung up on a pole and ignited.

The

crowd Jeers and boys throw stones at the burning effigy.
Finally a giant firecracker in the effigy blows up, disintegrating
the Judas, and with a loud cheer, the ceremonies of Easter are
at an end.
The Fiesta Patronal. or the day of the patron saint,
consists of a special mass to St. Joseph, a procession, and a
bacchanalerian orgy of three days duration.

This festival

follows Immediately after the liquidation of the coffee accounts
in July, and large sums of money accumulated by the people during
the year are consumed in drinking and gambling.

The one room

Jail of Aquiares is filled to capacity with belligerent drunks.
A band is hired from Turrialba or the capitol at Oartago or even
San Jose, and hundreds of visitors arrive from the Turrialba
area to participate in the festivities.

49

Most of the rites of passage observed in Aquiares are
in the hands of the church.

Baptism, confirmation, marriage,

and death are all solemnized by the rituals of the church.
Birthdays are of little importance, but one's Saint's day is
marked by gift-giving and special ceremonies of a familial nature.
Speolal foods are prepared for most high religious
holidays.

There are Christmas candies and cakes, and it is the

season when chlcha is made and consumed.
for the celebration of a Saint's day.

A simple cake is made

Sardines and bread are

the characteristic diet for Good Friday.
Recreational.
sports activity.

Soccer (futbal) is the most prominent

There are several teams in Aquiares, and the

first team competes with other teams from the Turrialba and the
Meseta Central areas.

Boys begin acquiring skill in this game

from their first year of school, and whenever the weather is
fair, especially from January through April, boys and young men
can be found playing socoer in the afternoons and evenings around
the estate.

Sometimes a padrlno or sponsor is suggested for a

more important contest, and in exchange for this honor he provides
the trophies or medals for the winning team.
he may treat both teams to rum punch.

If wealthy enough,

Thus, skill in socoer is

rewarded with visible symbols of status.

The field worker was

eleoted for the honor of padrlno at the annual soccer match between
Aquiares and Turrialba city in April of 1950.

For that event, the

50

winning team was awarded medals and both teams treated to rum
punch at the home of the overseer.

The first team of Aquiares

has its madrina (sponsor or mascot) who is a young teenage girl
in the community, and she appears at all matches dressed in
white.

The soccer team is formally organized into a club of

which the overseer is the president.

The relationship between

ability to play soccer and the awarding of favored Job assignments
in economic activities seems to indicate some systematic favor­
itism on the part of the overseer, a practice for which he is
criticized, though not to his face.
Marbles are a universally popular game with the
children, although grown men are frequently avid fans.
engage in Jump-rope which they learn at school.

0-irls

The chief

recreational activity for the older girls is walking around the
central area of the estate with girl friends on Sunday afternoons.
Late that same day, if the priest is in Aquiares, the girls may
attend a meeting of the Daughters of Mary (H1.1as de Maria), a
female religious servioe organization.

After their meeting, the

rosary is said, and boys begin to congregate outside the church
to wait for the conclusion of the service.

When the servioe lets

out, many of the girls pair off with boy friends who walk them
all or part of the way home.
engagements

It is through this medium that most

for marriage are started.

After the couple has

decided to Mgo steady", that is, become novios. the boy seeks

51

permission from the girl's parents to visit her for a few hours
in the evening once or twice a week, under the supervision, of
course, of the parents, brothers, sisters, or an elder in the
family.
Some of the upper status people go to the movies in
Turrialba once a week.

The weekly trip to Turrialba, by foot,

horse, or bus, combines pleasure with business and generally
involves meeting friends in a bar (cantina) or parading up and
down the main street of Turrialba in the early evening.

Dancing

is limited largely to community fiestas and weddings, although
young men who gather to rehearse guitars and other instruments
such as cornets or violins, join in singing or dance with each
other until nine or ten in the evening.

Card playing among the

men is especially popular during community fiestas.

A bingo

game is held every Saturday evening at the commissary and is
attended by some forty to fifty men and boys.
Casual conversation, informal and formal visiting, and
walking about the estate, constitute other leading forms of
recreation.

There is considerable variation in activities of

this sort according to status.

The administrative group does

not customarily participate in activities with the rest of the
community, but rather have their own interests with friends of
concomitant status outside the community.

Education.

The school in Aquiares has six grades, but

only children of the managerial and specialist group aspire to
finish all six.

Most children drop out at the end of the second

or third year of school.

Schooling until the fourteenth year of

age is obligatory under law, but local sentiment and the reluctance
of local school authorities to force issues prevent enforcement.
The main reasons for absenteeism are that children are used
extensively to run errands, the school is some distance from
remote portions of the estate, and inclement weather makes the
trip to school often difficult if not dangerous.

Normally, there

are about 100 children registered in the school and since the
staff of five teachers is not sufficient morning and afternoon
sections are held.

As a rule, parents seem to be more concerned

that their children learn the three "R's" than that they learn
music, geography, history and ,,nonutilitarlan,, courses.

Nominally,

the local system is under the direction of a local board of
education.

However, the director of the school calls and presides

over meetings.

Only in crises situations does the school board

tangibly influence the school's operation.

There is also a PTA

(Patronato Escolar) which is active in supplying school lunches
and in raising funds for equipment and improvements.

The members

of these boards are dominated by the director, teachers, and
representatives of the managerial group.

The school building is

in a run-down condition, but since it is the property of the
estate, the Ministry of Education is not in a legal position to
build facilities of a more adequate nature.

53

Politics.

Another Important pattern of activities Is

of a politioal nature.

Political activity Is not, however,

constant, In the formal sense, but when national elections oocur,
political activity becomes more intense.

Formerly, the patron

dominated politioal activity, and the population voted as he
voted.

In the recent 1948 revolution, the patron and his son

were reputed to represent opposing factions, and the estate did
not interfere with political activity.

Sharp factions arose and

underlying many of the day-to-day conflicts in many matters rests
this split.

There are many members of the community who will not

enter the houses of others who were on opposing factions during
the revolution.

When a crisis arises in the community, alliances

are largely conditioned by this historical event.
The Aquiares Day
During the harvest, activity in Aquiares begins about
seven A M . when workers leave their houses for the assignments
of the day.

School also begins at seven o'clock, and school

children will be seen walking toward the center area with their
pencils and cups for their school milk.

The boyeros hitch up

their oxen at four o'clock or before, especially if they must
make a few trips to the cane fields to haul cane to the traplohe
before picking up coffee in the oolonias.

Coffee at the

beneficlo ie started through the channels for processing shortly
after six A.M. when peones arrive.

The checkers and sorters

start work at the beneficlo at seven A.M.

5^

Throughout the morning, oarretae come and go from the
beneficlo. hauling coffee.

At nine A.M. workers stop for a brief

morning lunoh consisting of rice, tortillas, and sweetened water.
In the colonlas. the colono and his family pick the coffee, and
in the estate groves, crews of pickers under the stjpervislon of
an enoargado fill their baskets.

The commissary, which opens at

seven A.M. has few visitors during the morning.

At the police

agent's office, a line of people gather for first-aid treatment,
or seek petitions for medical attention at the Social Seourity
Hospital in Turrialba at the central office.
Work normally stops in the coffee groves around three
P.M.

The oarretas arrive at a central point, and the pickers

sort out their beans on burlap sacks.
dump their ooffee into the oarretas.

They then line up and
The overseer's assistant,

his son, stands on the oarreta wheel, and throws a credit token
into each basket as it is dumped.

The peon returns to his pile

of coffee and refills his basket to repeat the process.

When

all of the coffee has been placed in the oarretas. it is carried
to the beneficlo. measured, and dumped into the receiving tank.
It is Immediately flushed to the breaking machines and washed
into the pllas where it remains overnight.

The beneficlo

normally ceases all activities at six P.M. when a night watohman
and fireman oorae on duty to keep the drying machines fueled
throughout the night.

55

When the coffee has heen turned Into the oarretas.
the peones wend their way home.

Many go Immediately to their

garden plots or the pasture to bring back their cattle.

Prom

four until six, the commissary is quite busy and the porch is
filled with people passing the time of day.

A few residents who

receive newspapers come to town to pick up the day's edition or
look for mall which is distributed at the commissary.

The police

agent opens his office for first-aid oases, and the overseer
picks up the slips deposited by colonos so that he can plan his
Instructions for the b over os the next day.

All through the early

evening, the shutters on the front room window of the overseer's
house are open and encargados visit to receive Instructions.
Persons needing new spades or baskets come and leave their orders.
As soon as darkness descends, the electricity is put on, and the
huge light on the porch of the overseer burns brightly; his ninetube philco radio blares out over the central area.

In the

evening, the futbal players may gather at his home, or if there
is nothing to be transacted, gather on the commissary porch where
the news of the day is talked over and re-hashed until nine P.M.
when the crowd disbands.
When the harvest season is over, workers leave their
Jobs at two ®.M., and either work in their garden plots, out wood,
or visit in the center area.

Some may even have time to make a

trip to Turrialba with a load of bananas or garden produce, to
return late in the evening.

56

This routine of life ie interrupted during the weekend.
During the harvest season, workers may be busy picking up until
two p.m. on Saturday when the payroll call is held at the
commissary.

During the rest of the year, there is little Saturday

work, and the payroll may be met on Friday afternoon.

On Saturday

many inhabitants go to Turrialba where some supplies may be
purchased more cheaply than at the commissary.

The bus service

operates on weekends and carries passengers and produce to
Turrialba every few hours.
Sunday is usually a quiet day, unless it is a high
religious holiday.

When the priest is in town, mass is heard at

six a.m. and nine a.m.

In the afternoon, there is generally a

soccer game, and at five p.m. the rosary is recited.

Most people

spend Sunday visiting with friends in town or shopping in
Turrialba.

There are almost always a few who have over-imbibed.

Few weekends pass without an altercation between inebriates, and
the Jail generally has an overnight visitor or two.

Throughout

the day there is a constant flow of people to and from the small
candy and refreshment concession run by the police agent at
Palamor Nuevo. but by nine p.m. the lights in most houses are out.
The evening silence is broken only by the arrival of the bus at
nine and eleven p.m. carrying its load of passengers, including
a few drunks who struggle home under the supporting arms of friends.

57

The Life Cycle In Aquiares
Birth.

Few babies are born at home In Aquiares today.

Most workers have social security Insurance and their wives are
entitled to maternity care at the Social Security Hospital In
Turrialba.

However, a few employ midwives and have their children

on the estate.

A pregnant woman about to give birth, unless

receiving maternity service in Turrialba, generally goes to the
home of her mother and a local midwife Is called in.

Breast­

feeding seldom occurs in public, although the field worker
observed It occasionally.

The baby Is soon Initiated into a

banana mush and sweet water diet.

Children under four years of

age run around the house without clothing, but the parents
usually slip on panties If there Is a visitor or shield the genitals
with their hands, If naked children are on the porch when a
pedestrian passes.
Within the first month, a padrlno is sought for the
child.

It seems advantageous to select a padrlno of some means

since he may be counted on to take rather serious responsibilities
In the upbringing of the child.

However, this is not always so,

and a relative or friend close to the family may be selected.
Seme persons are exceptionally popular as padrinos.

One oolono.

of moderate means, is godfather to sixty-five children on the
estate, and he is still a relatively young man in his late thirties.
The padrlno usually remembers the child's Saint's day and perhaps

58

his birthday.

Formerly, the child was taught to kiss the hand

of his padrino when meeting him, recite Our Father, and greet
him, but this custom is passing.

However, the padrino has

special concern over the moral development of the child, and a
godson may be more concerned about an off-color remark in the
presence of his padrino than in the presence of his parents.
The padrlno may serve the same function at confirmation, and even
at the wedding of the godson.

This is more likely if the padrino

has the means to provide the appropriate feasts and gifts for
these occasions.

The padrlno becomes established as such at the

rite of baptism when he assumes responsibility for the upbringing
of the child in the event of the death of the parents.

This

ceremony is at the church in a brief private service conducted
by the priest.
The child learns early to run errands and to help around
the home.

The girl models herself after her mother, and the boy

after his father.

The child enters school at the sixth year,

although many keep their children at home ■until the seventh year.
By this time, the child is already performing many routine tasks
about the house.
The child is confirmed between the ninth and eleventh
year.

Training for confirmation consists largely of drill in

the catechism by the priest and by one of the Daughters of Mary
who assume teaching responsibilities.

The children are confirmed

59

in the afternoon by the bishop of Limon, who comes to Aquiares
for this purpose every two or three years.

The children answer

the questions concerning belief and loyalty to the church and
are struck by the back of the bishop's hand to symbolize
obedience to the dictates of the church.
in white and wear veils;

The girls are dressed

the boys, in black suits.

Both sexes

carry ornate candles throughout the ritual.
Slowly the child is taught the routine tasks and
gradually assumes greater responsibilities.

By the time the

child is fourteen, the youth is ready to work.

Girls remain at

home or secure work as domestics and boys work with their fathers
in the garden plots or find work as peones.
all during the harvest season.

There is work for

It is not uncommon for a girl

to marry at fourteen, though most girls are sixteen or seventeen
at marriage.

Until she is married, great efforts are made to

protect her chastity, and she is under the watchful eye of a
parent or brother most of the time.
The boys do not marry as early as the girls, and most
grooms are between their twentieth and twenty-fifth year before
they become engaged.

When the young couple decides to get

married, the boy asks his father to make the arrangements.

The

father visits the girl's parents, and after a formal conversation,
they come to an agreement about the plans.

A tentative date may

be set, and the matter of a suitable padrlno is discussed.

The

60

padrlno is important, for he will share the larger part of the
financial burden connected with the wedding festivities.

High

status families may arrange to use the storeroom of the beneficlo
for the wedding dance, but most families use one of the homes.
The marriage ceremony is performed in the early evening of a day
when the priest is present.
due to church rules.

It may not take place during Lent

The padrlno and the couple go to the church

for the brief ceremony.

The parents remain at the place of the

reception while friends of the couple attend the service.

When

the service is completed, the bride and groom leave the church
followed by the padrlno. his wife, and the friends, who shout
"long live the bride", “long live the groomi"
are set off.

A few firecrackers

When the couple arrives at the place of the

reception, a cake is cut and the couple eat with their parents,
the padrlnos. and any special guests.

Trays of drinks, cookies,

cake, and sandwiches are distributed to other guests.

A few

musicians strike up some dance music and the festivities continue
throughout the night until the early morning hours.

Usually, the

couple must live for some time with one of the in-laws until the
estate has a vacant house or the groom finds work elsewhere.
It is the duty of the wife to remain at home, care for
the chickens, clean the house, sew, and cook.

During the harvest

season she may be employed, especially if her husband has lower

61

status in the community.

Children begin arriving in rapid

succession, although many die from malnutrition, intestinal
parasites, tuberculosis, and childhood diseases.
Death is common in Aquiares.

When a child under five

dies, it is thought of as a "little angel" (angelito) for little
children are regarded as incapable of sin and thought to have
immediate passage to heaven.

The body is dressed in white and

the nose stuffed with cotton.

It is set on a table in the

living room on a white sheet.

Bach of the table is a white

sheet on which a flower for each year of life is pinned.

Musicians

are sought and friends and relatives spend the evening watching
over the body, singing, drinking, and conversing.

In the

Quanacaste area of Costa Rica, the wake of an angellto is the
occasion for riotous drinking and dancing.

The wake is much more

subdued in Aquiares, although drinking may be carried to excess
and an occasional fight breaks out.

In the morning, the father

goes to the carpenter shop and gets a coffin.

The body is

placed in the coffin and carried to Turrialba where it is buried.
The procession is generally small for the death of a very young
child.
When an adult dies, a wake is held, but the body is
placed in the coffin beforehand.

Candleabras are brought from

the church, and a layman is hired to recite the prayers which
last through the night.

Most families try to purchase a cloth

62

covered coffin from Turrialba If possible, but the estate will
make a simple wooden coffin if the family does not have funds.
Most people today borrow money if necessary In order to provide
an adequate coffin.

When the estate makes the coffin, it is

painted on the exterior, and a member of the family goes to
Turrialba for cloth to decorate the interior.

The funeral

processions of adults are generally well attended.
participate.

Only males

The coffin is placed on a stretcher and four men

carry it on their shoulders, shifting off frequently.

The

procession goes to Turrialba where the coffin is brought to
the church and a priest pronounces the last rites.

The procession

then goes to the cemetery and the men lower the coffin into the
grave with ropes.

Someone recites a few prayers and each

attendant throws a handful of dirt on the coffin.
is then filled in and the people depart.

The grave

At the gate to the

cemetery, two friends of the family stand with bottles of rum
and glasses.

Each person who attended receives a drink.

Most

of the participants go directly to a bar in Turrialba, including
the near-relatives of the deceased, and the rest of the day is
spent drinking.

CHAPTER III
AUTHORITY STRUCTURE
The organization of the labor force in the agricultural
system of Aquiares is set up through a complex of activities in
the interests of coffee production.

For the purposes of this

analysis, these activities may be dichotomized into primary and
secondary activities.

Primary activities may be thought of as

those which contribute directly to the production of coffee;
secondary as those which contribute indirectly to the production
of coffee.
Primary activities in Aquiares Include the planting,
cultivating, harvesting, processing and transporting of coffee.
Secondary activities include the maintenance of property and
equipment, extraction and preparation of lumber, sugar cane
production, food supply, police control, medical services,
education, and religion.

The organization of labor around these

primary and secondary activities Is highly complex.

A structural

position in the division of labor may be concerned almost
exclusively with primary activities, secondary activities or
both.

The configuration of technical and social skills, delegated

and Implied rights and duties characteristic of a given structural
position in the hierarchy of estate organization, largely
determines the authority which one exercises in the total system
and its sub-systems.

Figure L.
GENERAL ORGANIZATION OF THE
ESTATE: AQUIARES, 1952.

As coffee "took" in Turrialba, the various estates of
the patron were administered by a single superintendent who
traveled from one holding to another supervising the work on
each farm.

The operations at Aquiares soon became so complicated

that a full time administrator was needed and the position of
general superintendent gave way to the appointment of local estate
administrators.
For the most part administrators at Aquiares have been
men of urban background who found the relative isolation of
Aquiares incompatible with their accustomed pattern of living.
Administrators have not lasted long since there have been fifteen
of them in the last forty-three years.

As the estate grew in the

magnitude of its operations, its organization has become more
complex.

The demands upon the vitality and physical energy of

the administrator have therefore been great.

An administrator

mufit know his entire operation intimately and make frequent visits
to every portion of the estate to insure its smooth operation.
Administrators have been younger men who remained for a few years
only to move to larger urban centers where living facilities and
the conditions of urban life were more to their tastes.
Formal Structure
The present administrator is from a German family whose
holdings were wiped out during World War II when German property
was expropriated by the Costa Rican government.

He is responsible

65

for the estate In the absence of the patron.
help and Issues orders to the employees.

He hires and fires

He maintains daily

telephone contact with the patron in the letter’s San Jose office.
In addition, he directly supervises other personnel such as the
chauffeur, stable and stock men, repair men, and the domestic
help for the house of the patron and for his own home.
The bookkeeper makes up the payroll and supervises the
purchase of goods for the commissary.

He completes a number of

forms required by the government, including records of production,
running expenses, payroll, and hospital petitions for the
laborers.

He is in charge of the farm during the infrequent

absences of the administrator.
Formerly, there were two overseers (mandadores) each
responsible for a separate portion of the estate.

For reasons

difficult to isolate (rivalry, failure to check coffee thefts,
careless practices by work crews and colonos). the patron has
created a series of Intermediary positions between the laborers
and the overseers designed to give closer supervision to the
work.

When one of the overseers became ill and unable to continue

the strenuous work of covering a large section of the estate each
day, he was assigned a colonla. and the present overseer undertook
complete supervision of the labor force.
son.

He is assisted by his

Under his supervision, three encarcrados (foremen) direct

the colonies.

Each work crew of peones is under the direction

66

of an enoargado. but they are of lesser status and receive less
pay than the colonla encargados and the positions are not as
permanent.

The number of crews varies, but the supervision of

crews is a testing point where potential managerial workers are
given opportunities to demonstrate their abilities.

The overseer

dally issues instructions to the chief ox-driver who has enoargado
status and is permanent, and who, in turn, gives instructions to
the ox-drivers (boleros).

Nominally, the stock and stable help

are also under the command of the overseer, but at the time of
the study, they were more frequently receiving orders directly
from the administrator.

There is an enoargado who supervises

the crews appointed to work in the cane fields, and he is permanent
and responsible to the overseer.

Of lesser consequence than the

position of enoargado is that of the first mule driver who leads
five other mule drivers.

These mule drivers transport coffee

from areas inaccessible to the ox carts.

The lead mule driver is

a son of the overseer.
The foreman of the beneflclo has one assistant, his son.
In addition there are two men in charge of the girls checking
coffee and the men who are assigned to the beneflclo during the
harvest season.
his supervision.

Two firemen and a night watchman also fall under
The chief carpenter directs four other carpenters

who work about the estate repairing houses, gates, and fences.
In the shop, there is a smith and metal worker, one general
carpenter, and an ox cart maker who also constructs coffins when
needed.

67

Ordinarily, there are about ten laborers working in
the beneficlo during the harvest season.

At this time of year,

there are nineteen ox drivers and twenty day laborers in the cane
fields.

There are also five mule drivers, and fifty to one

hundred peones. including women and children who help in the
harvest.

When the harvest season is over, the daily force is

cut, but since a large proportion of the harvest labor force are
wives and children of resident colonos and peones. they merely
join the ranks of the unemployed during that part of the year
when their services are not needed.
The problem of providing adequate work for those who
need and desire it entails considerable shifting of crews and
work schedules, and requires that the organization be kept flexible.
It is the custom of the estate to employ widows of men who served
the estate for many years and to provide lighter work for men in
their declining years.

This means that the overseer must place t

them in the easier tasks even when work is scarce.
The Emergence of Systems
The location of structural positions within the general
agricultural system, while a useful device for understanding the
communication of authority, does not provide insight into the
arrangements of related systems operating within the more general
social structure.

Prom this point of view, the over-all

organization of estate life will be referred to as the general

68
structure, and the constructs used to differentiate categories
of relationships and convergence of Interests will be referred
to as systems.

To establish these categories, it is necessary

to inquire as to the baBes upon which these positions within the
general structure become Identified with each other and different
lated from other segments of the general structure as more or
less independent units.
While the division of labor gives an Immediate basis
upon which systems may be perceived, the ultimate condition seems
to lie in the use of property.

In this connection, Herskovits

remarks that:
"Whatever absolute criteria of property may be
set up, the ultimate determinant of what is
property and what le not is to be sought in
the attitude of the group from whose culture
a given instance of ownership is taken."1
If property, and in this case land as property, is to
be valued, it must be somewhat scarce, figure consciously in the
life of the people, and must yield some recognizable return,
economic, or psychological.

That land is a scarcity and is

Important in the conscious thinking of Aqularlans is immediately
evident.

In interviews, Informants consistently expressed a high

value placed in private ownership of land.

The land comprising

Aquiares is, of course, a monopoly, completely controlled by the
1.

M. J. Herskovits, The Economic Life of Primitive People
(New York: A. Knopf, 1940J p. 2887

69

patron.

The returns from the land In Aquiares have been

discussed at some length in previous chapters.

What concerns

this study is the ordering of relations among the population
of a given territory in terms of the extent to which possession
of land conditions the organization of these relations.

The

capacity to order relations among members of a population is a
function of social power, or the ability "to produce intended
effects."2

Social power "either is derived from private property

or is against it."®

Man may thus control his external environment

and may also control other men because of his control over nature
or environment.
The patron is legal owner of the property-ln-land
which constitutes the territoriality of Aquiares.

The legal

sanction for his ownership is given by national law in Costa Rica.
This does not mean that he has exclusive right to do what he wishes
with either the natural or human resources upon that property.
There is no restriction as to the hind and extent of crops which
may be cultivated aside from the usual restriction against
certain narcotic plant industries.

However, if he grows coffee,

the law requires that he allow the harvest to be Inspected
periodically by agents of the government.

Law also requires

that certain specifications be met with regard to employee
2.

B. A. Russell, Power (London:

W. Norton & Co., 1938) p. 35.

3.

F. Neumann, "Approaches to the Study of Folltloal Power"
Political Science Quarterly. Vol. LXV, No. 2 (June: 1950)
p. 1*73.

70

housing, medical provisions, minimum wages, conditions under
which workers may be hired or fired, and health conditions for
workers and residents.

Legally , he must accept a police agent

appointed from Turrialba, although he may make recommendations
regarding that appointment.

He must provide educational

facilities for children under the age of fourteen, who are
forbidden to work as salaried employees.

Rights and duties of

laborers in relation to their employer are specified in the
Codlgo de Traba.1 o (Labor Code), and the relationship between
owner and colono is specified in a contract which the individual
colono makes with him each year.

Regardless of how faithfully

the patron responds to the conditions laid down by legal sanctions,
he is technically responsible for seeing that they are met.
The day-to-day administration of the estate proper is
in charge of an appointed representative of the owner, the
administrator, who regulates activities and sees that the Interests
of the patron are protected.

He is, however, in daily contact

with the patron at the San Jose office via telephone.

He

authorizes expenditures and obtains payroll funds each week from
the bank in Turrialba.
The patron and his administrator, with their families,
constitute a clearly differentiated segment in this population,
and for the purposes of this analysis will be defined as the
administrative system.

Their identification and relations to

71

each, other, class position, social and technical shills, are
functions of their relationship to property, a criterion which
has been stated early in this chapter.

While the administrator

is not the property owner, he performs his role as though he were,
and this behavior is sanctioned socially and legally by the
patron.

It is his prerogative to behave as though he were the

ultimate source of authority in most patterned activities involved
in running the estate.
A second system, differentiated by its managerial
functions, consists of salaried employees of concomitant socio­
economic status, united by kinship ties and technical and social
skills different from those of the administrative system insofar
as they are more directly concerned with the primary and secondary
activities and are Immediately responsible for the labor force.
They are more visibly and actually removed from control or
possession of land, the means of production.

This group will be

defined as the managerial system.
Because of the specific nature of the relation which
obtains between the colono and patron, the colonla system will
be treated as a separate unit apart from the day wage earners in
this analysis.

Their relation to the estate is by virtue of a

contract which gives them certain rights relative to property-in­
land.

They are not paid as wage earners, but in kind, much as

are the sharecroppers in southern United States.

The distinction

72

In status between colono and day wage earner Is one consciously
recognized by all segments of the general structure, and for that
reason will be referred to as the colono system.
The day wage earner, or peon, is farther removed from
control of the means of production than any other segment of the
agricultural system.

The skills which characterize this level

are almost exclusively manual and It Is the lowest socio­
economic group on the estate.

Because of the serf-like nature

of this level, it will be referred to as the peon system.
A number of structural positions are held by persons
who derive their status from membership In some other system,
hence their activities in Aquiares are tangential to the operation
of the agricultural enterprise.

They are almost exclusively

concerned with secondary activities, and include positions such
as the doctors, priest, police agent, and school teachers.

They

do not constitute a system of and by themselves since their
interests and functions are divergent and they have little
relationship with each other.

Nevertheless, their status in their

own system mapy times does Influence the behavior of members of
one, some, or all of the above categories in the agricultural
system.

In a certain sense they may act as a wedge, Insofar as

they are immune from most of the dictates of the agricultural
authority system and insofar as they perform specific services
of value to the community.

Thus, the police agent, nominally

independent of any vested interest, is committed to the protection
of all the inhabitants from injustices by another and is in a
position to exert Influence and authority over any of the sub­
systems operative in the agricultural system.
Technically speaking, these systems do not exhaust the
number and kinds of systems in Aquiares.

There is a religious

system, an educational system, recreational systems, familial
systems, etc.

They are not discussed here because they are not

perceived as directly relevant to the problems posed.

They will

be dealt with, however, Insofar as they are relevant to the
purposes of the study.
Soclometrlc Aspects of Systems
In an effort to measure the extent and determine the
ways in which individuals in the systems Identified with each
other, the one hundred heads of households in the sample were
asked to make soclometrlc choices of person, such choices to be
made on the basis of a mixed clique-prestige question.
choices reflected in the responses appear in Table III.

The
Two

hundred and sixty choices were made, but only one hundred and
sixteen of these were to ranked persons in the sample.
indices

Three

were computed, all of which were based on the ratio of

observed to expected choices.

7k

The index scores are shown In the columns at the
extreme right of Table III.

These indices are C (Cleavage

Index), I.P. (ingroup Preference Index), and G.P. (Group
.

Preference Index).

Il

An index score of approximately 1.00

indicates that there has been neither more nor less choices than
expected.

The C index indicates the amount of ingroup choices

made relative to the total number of choices made and received
by the group; that is, the expected frequency In this case is
found by multiplying the proportion of the total one hundred and
sixteen choices which were received by the total number of choices
the group made.

A larger C indicates more ingropp choosing.

The

C score for the colono system in Table HI Is 2.05, and since this
is the highest index recorded for the systems itemized, a
relatively higher degree of cleavage may be Inferred for that
system.

The peon and managerial systems reflect somewhat greater

cleavage than the expected, but the tangential system, composed
of Individuals of heterogenous functions, goals, and interests
shows no cleavage whatsoever.
The G-.P. index indicates the relative extent to which
others choose into a group in relation to its size.

When G.P.

is 1.00 the group's drawing appears to be directly related to
Its size.

If less than 1.00 its drawing power Is less than

would be expected in terms of Its size, if greater, its drawing
4.

Charles H. Procter and Charles P. Loomis in "Analyses of
Sooiolmetric Data" Research Methods in Soolal Relatione by
Maria Jahoda, Morton Deutsch, and Stuart Cook, pp. 569-581.

75

power la greater, etc.

The tangential system has the highest

index (2.61) which seems to indicate relatively high drawing
power.

An inspection of the matrix on which the choices were

recorded revealed that almost all of the choices were to the
police agent who is a former peon and who has close, life-long
ties with the peon group.

The index for the managerial system

indicates slightly ttore group preference, and the peon and
colono systems hoth fall below the expected.
The I.P. index Indicates the ratio of observed ingroup
choices to the expected number of choices in terms of the size
of the group.

I.P. is 1.00 when the number of ingroup choices

is directly related to the size of the ingroup.

When I.P. is

less than 1 .00, the number of ingroup choices is less than the
expected on the basis of its size.

When I.P. is greater, the

number of ingroup choices is in excess of the expected.

I.P. as

expressed by this ratio indicates that the managerial system
with an I.P. equal to k,07 is characterized by greater ingroup
identification as reflected in the choices.

The colono system

with an I.P. equal to I .03 reflects the approximate expected
amount of ingroup preference.

The tangential system with an

I.P. score of 0.00 reflects the minimum possible mutual
identification.

Peon ingroup preference is somewhat less than

expected though not the extreme indicated in the I.P. score for
tangentials.

TABLE III
DISTRIBUTION OF SOCIOMETRIC CHOICES EXPRESSING
CLEAVAGES, INGROUP PREFERENCES, AND GROUP
PREFERENCES BY SYSTEMS: AQUIARES, 1952*

SYSTEMS

MANAGERIAL COLONO TANGENTIAL PEON TOTAL

SCORES

10

55

5

50

100

Managerial

7

1

1

8

17

4.07

1.84

2.26

Colono

7

23

7

5

42

1.03

2.05

.77

Tangential

0

2

0

1

3

Peon

12

5

7

30

54

Total

26

31

15

44

116

No. Persons

IP

0

C

.

0

.56

1.47

.

GP

2.61

* In response to the question: "With whom do you llfce to converse
most frequently and with whom you enjoy greatest confidence?”

.77

76

“Whatever coheeivenees might he imputed here cannot he
attributed to social factors alone.

In the 19J+8 community

studies project, there were one hundred and thirty-seven
sociometric choices, one hundred and thirty-six of which were
to persons in Aquiares.
seven choices.

Twenty colonos in the sample made sixty-

Fifty-three (79#) of these were to other colonos.

Fourteen (21#) of the choices were made to managerial and peon
employees residing in the central area of the estate.

Residents

in the central area made seventy-one (92#) of their choices to
other estate employees living in the central area, and only six
(8#) of their choices to colonos.

This may well he, at least in

part, a function of physical distance since the two groups,
central area managers and peones on the one hand, and the colonos
on the other, are separated from each other hy considerable
physical distance.

The members of these groupB live closer to

others in their respective group than to those in the opposing
group.

It is not clear as to the relative importance of physical

distance, common interests, occupation, etc. in the clusterings
reflected in Tab l e H £ but it does seem apparent that all of these
factors, and perhaps more, are operative.
G-eneral Ranking
A general ranking of one hundred heads of households
was devised, based upon the evaluations of a set of Judges.

In

addition to ranking individual members of the sample, roles as

77

conceived by the ten Judges were also evaluated and ranked.

Ten

Judges were selected-5 and each Judge was instructed to arrange
in groups the one hundred names appearing on 3 x 5 cards.

The

Judges were not told what kinds of groupings were desired, and
if they asked, were given an evasive answer such as “whatever
seems most logical to you."

When groups had been formed, each

Judge was asked to arrange the groups in rank order.
in each grouping were then ranked.

The names

There was, of course,

considerable re-arranging and shifting of cards in this process.
The scores given each person by the Judges were averaged and the
one hundred persons ranked in order.
among Judges about ranking.6

There was general agreement

The patron and administrator did

not occur in the sample and thus were omitted.

Rank positions,

according to membership, appear in Appendix I.
The sample was then compared as to rank order and
occupation to answer the question as to whether socio-economic
status could be associated positively with adjudged rank order,
and the computation showed F - 11.63, 5 ana 9k degrees of freedom,
is less than .01.

This demonstrated that there was a marked

tendency for the Judges to rank their fellows in an order which
corresponded to their position in the general structure.
5.

Appendix II, Methodological Note contains a discussion of the
problems of this method.

6.

For a detailed account of agreement and disagreement of Judges
in ranking, see Appendix II, Methodological Note: The Use of
Judges.

AGE , SEX , ft OCCUPATION
IN THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF
AQUIARES
1951
BY THOMAS L. NORRIS
80
75
70
65
60
55
50

AGE

45
40
35
30
25

20

(HIGH)

(LOW)

PRESTIGE

KEY
RANK
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15

AVE
SCORE

RO LE

RANK

1.2
2 .5
3 .2
3 .7
5 .7
6 .4
6 .6
7.1
6 .3
8 .3
1 1 .3
1 1 .3
1 2 .2
1 2 .6
1 3 .0
1 4 .2
1 5 .2

PATRON
P R IE S T
ADMINISTRATOR
DOCTOR
TEACHER
BOOKKEEPER
GENERAL SUPERINTENDANT
PO LIC E AGENT
BENEFICIO SUPERINTENDANT
SHOP FOREMAN
CHAUFFEUR
CARETAKER OF STOCK
CARPENTER
FOREMAN OF COLON IAS
FOREM AN OF WORK CREWS
CURANDERO
OX D R IVER

16
17
16
I*
CO
Cl
22
23
24
25
26

A

M ALE

27
28
29
30
31
32

o
,LY

S P O N D IN G

AGE

P E R F O R M IN G

AVE.
SCORE
1 5 .4
16.9
19.1
2 0 .3
2 0 .4
2 0 .6
2 0 .7
2 2 .8
2 4 .5
2 5 .6
2 6 .2
2 6 .5
2 7 .3
2 7 .4
2 8.1
2 9 .8
2 9 .9

THE

PERFO RM ING

ROLE

F ig u r e 5

R O LE
COLONO
M ARRIED PEON
PREFERRED SON
MALE YOUTH
PREFERRED DAUGHTER
MARRIED WOMAN
BACHELOR
BOY
FEM ALE YOUTH
GIRL
MALE C H ILD
OLD MAID
M ALE INFANT
WIDOW
FEM ALE CHILD
COM M O N -LAW WIFE
FEM ALE INFANT
FEMALE
ROLE.

IF

TH ERE

IS

NO

78

To secure further confirmation, the reverse process
was conducted two months after the ranking of Individuals, that
is, each Judge was interviewed and an attempt was made to elidit
’•all the different kinds of people who live in Aquiares."
Through this technique, a list of thirty-two kinds of people was
constructed.

This was a mixed list, and included not only patron.

administrator, doctor, foremen, carpenters, ox drivers, peones.
colonos. hut also a family breakdown to include age and sex
gradations within the family.

At a later date the list was

transferred to cards, and Judges were asked to rank these positions
in order of importance.

The rank order, average scores, and

roles are listed and charted in Fig. 5.

Ranks numbered one

through sixteen refer to positions existing either in the formal
structure of the estate, or in tangential systems.

Ranks

numbered seventeen through thirty-two refer to family status.
It seems obvious that while one may oocupy a relatively
low position in the general structure, he may enjoy a high status
in one or another of the systems of which he is a member.
reverse may be true.

The

For example, the police agent, a member of

a tangential system in which he is of low rank, has high status
in the community.

Or a carpenter, while of low rank in the general

structure, is high in the peon system.

It is possible, though

Infrequent, for a person of low rank in the general structure to
have a high rank in a local formal organization.

Inspection of

79

lists of officers of organizations through time, however, has
indicated that there is a tendency for persons high in rank
within the general structure to monopolize those positions in
local association of greater importance.
This system of analysis, while not without its short­
comings, indicates clearly why systems for the determination of
horizontal stratification may encounter difficulty since the
abstraction which the investigator uses may not correspond to
criteria which have meaning for the local population.

This is

particularly important when differential status systems are to
be used as a basis for manipulation of Inhabitants in change
programs, for they will be expected to behave in terms of their
own understanding of their status system.
The major thesis of this study is that differential
ranking in sub-systems is related to the proximity to the control
of property or the means of production, and these data presented
here represent the first step in the confirmation of this hypothesis.

CHAPTER IV
THE ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM
Only two persons in the general authority structure of
Aquiares, the patron and the administrator, occupy administrative
positions, and the latter is legal and personal representative
of the patron in all matters pertaining to estate business when
*

the former is not present on the estate.
The Patron
The patron, as previously indicated, is the legal
owner of the land on which the estate lies.

He also owns all

the buildings, including residences, school, church, commissary,
stable, beneficio, traplche. jail and storehouse.

The entire

estate is organized to produce coffee and provide subsistence
for the labor force, and every activity is in direct or indirect
relation to these ends.

In such a large-scale

enterprise,

extending over hundreds of acres of territory and involving more
than twelve hundred inhabitants, it would seem that the supreme
power holder, in order to maintain and perpetuate his power,
must act in such a way as not to dissipate that power.
There have been events in the history

of Aquiares when

these ends were being circumvented in the eyes of some people.
Landowners in Costa Rica looked upon the introduction of the

81

colono system, for instance, as one such step.

They considered

that giving independence and extra benefits to the peonea were
"socialistic" or even "communistic" moves, and as such would be
detrimental not only to the interests of the patron of Aquiares
but to other landholders as well.

These critics did not agree

that the colono system could be one of the most effective means
by which the farm could achieve its ends.

In the Meseta Central,

for instance, farm owners draw their labor force from the large
cities during the harvest season.

In Turrialba, with its longer

harvest season of almost five months, there is no such supply
available, and if it were, the cost would be greater than the
operation of the colono system.

The expense of a payroll over

five months for daily wage earners would skyrocket the current
cost since the colono operates with the help of his family on his
lot.

This system guarantees a steady labor potential at a

minimum of cost with a maximum of dependency of the colono upon
the owner.

Such a policy, therefore, does not dissipate the

control of the patron, but rather forces it into channels which
have legal and social sanction.

To cite another example, the

local school is estate property.
by the estate at its own expense.
electricity and water.

Repairs and additions are made
It also bears the cost of

The national educational system would

build a new school and maintain it if the estate would cede or
sell a small lot for that purpose.

The patron considers that

this would constitute dissipation of his power and feels that

82

possession might later be interpreted as the greater part of law,
for "if they get one foot in, who knows how far they might go,"
he exclaimed.

As it now stands, the director of the school and

his family are dependent upon the patron for housing and school
facilities.

Without the support of the patron their activities

would be seriously crippled.
When in Aquiares, the patron lives in his large
residence.

While not elegant by San Jose standards, it is none­

theless superior for the Turrialba area.
farm once or twice a month.

The patron visits the

The remainder of the time, he is in

San Jose, the capitol, where he has his office and permanent
house.
The capacity to modify the behavior of others to suit
one’s own purposes is dependent somewhat upon the possession of
technical and social skills, competence, class membership, and
other elements which have been at one time or another classified
as "social capital."

In the case of the patron, his Anglo-Saxon

origins are most certainly a significant part of that social
capital which reinforces his power position.

In Oosta Rica, a

foreigner, especially one from the United States or Europe enjoys
considerable prestige.

WhltBness of skin, "know-how" in technology,

and material wealth seem to be qualities associated with these
peoples admired by Oosta Ricans.

"Son gente de alta calldad"

or "tienen buena sangre" (they are people of high quality or

83

they have good blood) are oft-heard expressions directed toward
foreigners.

The skill with which he handles hie farm enterprises

is indicated in a paragraph from a national agricultural magazine
which speaks of the estate as a "model in every respect," a
result of the worth of its "intelligent proprietor."^
Another item of his "social capital" of no small
import would consist of his alliances and contacts with other
persons prominent in Costa Rican economic, business, political
and social life.

However, the creation and productive operation

of such an enterprise as Aquiares requires not only skill and
efficiency in matters of commerce, but also certain charaismatlc
qualities obtaining to the personality of the patron in his
relationship to peers and to persons within the community.
Another large landowner in Turrialba spoke of the patron of
Aquiares as "a perfect Christian gentleman in every sense of
the word."

To his employees, the patron plays the role of the

good father.

Far from being a tyrant (a role left to the

administrator), he deals with his employees in a quiet,
benevolent and patronizing manner.

He does not dictate in a

harsh, commanding manner, but rather uses, with no little skill,
a fatherly approach to complainants.

His willingness to give

counsel is the consession of a kind and Interested father to
his children.
1.

Peones. however, have also learned that it is

Carlos L. Valle, "Colonlas Agricolas con Hombres que Sepan
Hacer Produclr la Tierra," Suelo Tlco, p. 13F

8^

not proper to call the attention of the patron towards oneself
("no dehe llamarse la atencion al patron").

The outward symbols

of clothing accentuate both the differences in outward appearance
and social status of patron and peon.

The patron. dressed in

ties, shining shoes, business suit, watch and ohain, sits in a
swivel chair before a large polished desk covered with papers
and account books.

The unshod peon. straw hat in hand, stands

before him in his cheap white work clothes while the patron
explains what is Just and good in relation to the problem the
peon has brought.
Servants of the patron recount endless tales of life
on the hill, much of which is probably exaggeration.

Bedrooms

with private baths, American and Scotch whiskey, and a large
radio are items which only the elite are reputed to consume.
Much of the gossip concerns hilarious wild parties "thrown" by
the patron1s son for his cronies when the son was younger.

Prior

to the visit of the patron. there are extensive preparations to
ready the house.

Paths between the house and office are spread

with red gravel in case the patron should prefer to walk the
distance rather than ride in chauffeured car.

But regardless

of whether the patron walks or rides, the peon traditionally
removes his hat as he passes.
Competence in business matters, skill in manipulating
inferiors, ability to dress and live as a member of the elite,

85

and expertness in playing up the stereotype of the father and
benevolent patron are manifestations of influence which hover
in the background and condition the outcoming of decision-making
situations exclusive of his defined authority as employer.
Lines of authority are clearly delineated for the
administrative system in Aquiares.

The patron sets basic policy,

and decisions are contingent upon his wishes.

As owner of the

estate it is his prerogative to organize production as he sees
fit, subject to certain legal restrictions imposed by the
government.

The labor code, for example, makes him responsible

for meeting minimal housing and wage requirements, payment of
social security tokens, and requires that he show Just cause for
the dismissal of an employee.
Patron is cautious about the direct use of
authority.

Some years ago, the peones were given orders for

Sunday work during the harvest.

There was considerable hesitancy

about violating the Sabbath, in view of which the patron solicited
the support of the priest who informed the people at mass that
it would be no violation of their religious obligations to work
during the current season on Sundays.

In matters of religion,

the priest, of course, takes precedence over the patron. but they
are aligned traditionally and there is no memory of conflict
between the two in the history of the estate.

86

According to legal codes, the patron1s responsibilities
end when he has met wage, housing, and health requirements.
Generally, extension agents and other reform agencies feel that
owners are interested in barely meeting thefte requirements and
no more.

This was the attitude of the school officials, and

government agricultural agents who had contact with Aquiares.
This attitude, however, is not shared by all of the
patron1s employees.

During the Interviews conducted by the field

worker, this attitude occurred with relative Infrequency, and
most employees felt that their patron goes "above and beyond"
the minimal requirements.

It is this notion of the "above and

beyond" which makes the patron less a legal-rational employer
and more a benevolent father to whom his charges adhere with
devotion.

The system of rewards is one of the Instances in which

the patron goes beyond the minimal requirements.

The week prior

to Christmas all wage earners and colonos receive a bonus equal
to the earnings of the worker for that week.
proplna or tip.

It is called the

In addition, certain persons, especially

managerial employees, receive additional bonuses of coffee and/or
money at the liquidation of the coffee accounts.

To the knowledge

of the field worker, this is the only estate in which such a
practice has been in continuous use throughout the last three
decades.

Without diBcussing what might lay behind such a

procedure, the consequences of the gesture are plain.

The

recipients are more closely bound to and Indebted to him as a

87

result.

Christmas Is a time of sentiment, and the patron makes

it possible for the employees to purchase ceremonial foods and
decorations which otherwise might not be possible.

The tips to

managerial employees enable them to purchase those items which
give them status and prestige.

Without the support and good

favors of the patron their style of living would be limited, if
not deflated.
The Administrator
In many respects, the administrator is the antithesis
of the patron.

It would seem as though their parts were

conceived as protagonist and antagonist.

It would be purely a

matter of conjecture as to whether or not this type of personality
was purposely selected by the patron to deflect criticism which
might otherwise be directed against himself.
The administrator lives on the estate throughout the
year, except for brief visits to the capitol.
the second largest on the estate.

His residence is

As personal and official

representative of the patron. he is responsible for the management
of everything that occurs in the absence of the patron.

His

consumption patterns must be in keeping with his position.
The administrator, of G-erman origin, sees his role as
that of running the estate with a maximum of efficiency and
minimum of cost.

This is not an easy task in a Latin situation

88

for one reared in the German tradition of efficiency and rigid
expectations.

But he is skillful in handling intermediaries

between himself and the peones in the pursuit of those ends.
Characteristically, he remains aloof, communicating with native
employees only on a "strictly business" basis.

Occasionally,

he entertains visitors or relatives from San Jose or Turrialba.
but does not visit socially with local Inhabitants.

He feels

that:
"these people are not, by nature, cooperative...
they have much of the Indian in them yet.
Notice their slant eyes and darker skin, and
the custom of eating apart from each other.
Even X (referring to the overseer) is very
delicate (muy dellcado) to handle. And you
can't expect them to do any but the mo'st
simple task at one time."
And so, to maintain order, one must let them know "who the boss
is."

The tendency for the German to shift the blame outwardly

was reflected in a comment he made when he forgot to have the
social security forms for sick peones ready for the doctor.

As

the doctor left, visibly irritated because of his useless trip,
the administrator remarked:

"He was probably happy not to have

to work anyway."
The administrator is thought of as hardworking,
demanding, frugal and severe ("Usted sabe como son los
. . duros, duros, pero bien duros.")

alemanes

This configuration of

qualities isolates him from the rest of the community and

89
symbolizes those qualities of foreigners repugnant to the native
Just as the patron symbolizes those qualities admired by the
natives.

Yet, in his role, such attributes facilitate control.

Since he is the official through which inferiors are supposed
to approach the patron. many complaints remain unstated, through
fear, or are cut short.

Fear of reproach or refusal minimizes

communications between administrator and most of his inferiors.
The actual day-to-day administration of the estate
rests in the hands of the administrator who hires and fires and
directs the various operations of the estate.

He issues orders

directly to the overseer, head of beneflolo. and chief carpenter,
as well as to the chauffeur, handy-man, and domestic servants.
He supervises the payment of employees.

Although his decisions

are generally upheld by the patron. there are occasions when the
patron over-rules him.

During the residence of the field worker,

the school director tried to enlist the help of the estate in
building platforms for peoneB participating in an out-house
building campaign.

The school director went to the administrator,

and after calculating the cost and the amount needed, the
administrator refused.

The director waited until the patron

visited the estate and then re-stated his case to the patron.
The patron ordered the administrator to arrange with the chief
carpenter for the construction of the necessary platforms.

Some

90

of the more subtle aspects of this particular episode, represent­
ing the patron1s reversal of the administrator's decision are
presented In Chapter VII.
The Priest
The priest Is not considered a member of the adminis­
trative system, partly because of the secondary nature of his
activities in relation to coffee production, and partly because
he is officially a member of a tangential system.

However, he

is the highest ranking of those belonging to tangential systems
and was ranked by Judges second only to the patron.

Traditionally,

the church and large landholders have been closely allied through­
out Latin America and it is for this reason that the priest is
included in this discussion.

He lives in Turrialba, and is

absent from Aquiares save for bi-weekly visits to say mass and
hear confessions.

During Holy Week he is present for five

consecutive days.

He also comes to Aquiares to celebrate mass

on Holy Days of Obligation.

The estate provides him with

transportation to and from Turrialba.
with bedroom and toilet for his use.

The church is equipped
He receives meals on a

tray from the kitchen of the administrator's home.

In passing,

it is well to mention that the church is an attractive structure,
superior to the school in every detail.

This pleases the priest

who sees in the school teachers an element of disrespect and even
denial of the values which he represents.

"They are all agnostics

91

and heretics", he says.

Although not a Catholic himself, the

patron supports the program of the church, and provided most of
the money for construction of the chapel.

He feels one faith

in the community is a guard against internal conflicts, and is
thus inclined to grant the occasional requests of the priest for
minor church alterations, repairs, or equipment.

The wife of the

patron is Catholic and attends mass when present on the estate.
The front pew is reserved for

the family of the patron.It has

a hinged gate indicating that

it is not Just an ordinary pew for

ordinary persons.
Life in Aquiares is
inhabitants have ever known.

the only life that most of its
The roots of the attachment of the

workers to their patron may go back into the historical tradition
of peonage in the patriarchal organization of most Latin American
landholdings, but they are sustained and perpetuated contemporan­
eously through the mechanisms which have been discussed in this
chapter.

In the role of the good father, It is believed that

the patron will care for his "children", if worst comes to worst;
hence a profound sense of dependency has developed.

For all the

poverty and concomitant discomforts of peon life, the ties with
the patron and the accompanying traditional and paternalistic
hierarchy give security to the people.

For it is the patron

and his representatives who have fed, and are expected to continue
to feed the loyal peon.
loyalty and labor.

In exchange for this, the peon owes his

CHAPTER V
THE MANAGERIAL SYSTEM
About thirteen percent of the local population may be
classified as occupying managerial posts.

In the sample of 100

heads of families, these included the overseer, foreman of the
beneficio, chief carpenter, chauffeur, one commissary worker,
six encargados. and a stock manager.
Positions in the managerial system were characterized
in the following terms by the Judges:
Spanish_____________________ English____________________________
Son gente acomodados
TIenen una mejor vida
Vive mas a gusto
Clase preferenclal
Tlene varlas animales
TIene su platllla
Sin vicio
Muy trabajador
Muy luchador
TIene plata^en el banco
Tlene pequena ventaja
TIene medlos para mejorarse
Observa buena conducta
Careoe de cultura
Es buena persona
Muy decente
De lo que hace, sobra
Buenos habitos
Alto por su trabajo
Elemento bueno
Quayacan
No vive mal
Produce mas por tener mas
comodedades

Comfortably set up
Have a better life
Lives about as he wishes
Preferred class (of people)
Has several animals
Has money
Without any vices
A great worker
A real fighter
Has money In the bank
Has an advantage
Has the means with which to better himsel
Observes good conduct
Reflects culture
Is a good person
Very respectable
Comes out ahead in whatever he does
Good habits
Up high because of his Job
A good element
Big shot
Doesn't live badly
Produces more because he has better
means

93

Spanish_______________

English_____________________________

G-ana buen sueldo
Blen sano
Mas en el servicio del
pueblo
Es mandador
Distinguido
Tlene terreno
Honrado

Earns a good salary
Stable, reliable
More active in serving the community
Is a foreman
Distinguished
Owns land
Honorable

These statements reflect three conceptions of what gives
one status in the managerial system:

(1) possession of material

wealth, (2) occupation, and (3) moral qualities.
Kinship ties are playing an increasingly important part
in the consolidation of positions in the managerial system.

The

foreman of the beneflclo. for instance, has six children married
to the following persons:
Daughter married
Daughter married
Daughter married
Daughter married
Son married to a
Son married to a

to a son of the overseer's brother
to a fireman in San Jose
to a son of the chief carpenter
to the chauffeur
daughter of the chief carpenter
daughter of the overseer

The chief carpenter's married children have been
similarly selective:

Daughter married to
a
mechanic in Limon
Daughter married to
a
eon of the
overseer
Daughter married to
the owner of a bar inTurrialba
Daughter married to
a
son of the
foreman oftheBenefioi
Son married to the daughter of the owner of a hardware
business in Turrialba

9h
The chauffeur is married to a daughter of the foreman
of the Benefioio.

His mother is chief cook for the patron.

His

sister is a school teacher and is married to a commissary worker,
the son of an encargado.
to the chief carpenter.

The wife of the police agent is cousin
All of the marriages listed above are

in the family of the chief carpenter.

The overseer, while not

so overwhelmingly successful as his peers in this respect, has
nevertheless tended to be selective in much the same way about
the mates for his children.

These selections are as follows:

Son married to a daughter of the chief carpenter
Son married to a daughter of a small store-owner
in San Juan Vlnas
Daughter married to the son of the foreman of the
beneflcio
Daughter married to a colono
Daughter married to the son of a colono. the former
overseer
Daughter married to an ox-driver
Of the remaining individuals in the managerial system,
only one encargado has married children, two sons, one of whom
is married to the school-teacher sister of the chauffeur, and
the other to a carpenter.

The remaining children of these

individuals are not yet married.
Accessibility to the administrator and the patron. and
therefore to the ultimate source of control over property and the
means of production, is another factor which increases the power
potential of structural positions in the managerial system.

This

95
accessibility is manifested in the ability of individuals occupy­
ing these positions to gain certain concessions and advantages
not normally available to their Inferiors.

The use of the

storeroom of the beneflclo for wedding dances is an example of
the advantage which membership in the managerial system may
bring.

Weddings are Important occasions;

Even the poorest of

fathers will go into debt in order to have the appropriate
appointments for the celebration.

Some deliberate calculation

is generally Involved in the selection of a padrlno or godfather
for the wedding, for he will be expected to share a good portion
of the cost.

The high point of the festivities Is the dance

and distribution of ceremonial foods consisting of cake, cookies,
sandwiches, and liquor.
ceremony at the church.

The parents do not attend the wedding
The padrlno and his wife accompany the

couple and the ceremony is completed in a few moments.

But after

the ceremony there is dancing, an orchestra, however humble, food
and drink.

Only members of the managerial system have had their

wedding dances In the storeroom of the beneflclo. with its smooth,
hardwood floor.
a large group.

The storeroom is spacious and can accomodate
Its floor is the most suitable on the grounds

for dancing purposes.

The cost of decorating a room of this

size, hiring an orchestra of suitable quality for the high
ranking guests, and the refreshments are, of course, far beyond
the capacity of the ordinary peon to beg or borrow.

Besides,

only the higher Income families are in a position In which it

96
would be proper for them to ask for its use.

Members of the

managerial system consider the storeroom the only suitable place
In Aquiares for the weddings of their offspring.

If it were not

available, they would hire a dance hall In Turrialba.

The Idea

that a peon might even give thought to asking the patron for the
use of the storeroom was greeted with laughter when the
Investigator suggested It.
Managerial employees, In addition to higher wages, enjoy
other advantages which Increase their Influence.
provides them with better housing.

The estate

In the case of the overseer

and foreman of the beneflclo. the houses have six rooms, are
painted inside and out, and are provided with running water,
electricity, and a privy.

The chief carpenter's house also has

six rooms, but It Is of the same construction as the homes of the
peones.

It is provided with electricity and water.
The six highest ranking members of the managerial

system substituted iron cooking stoves imported from the
United States, for the usual fogon.

They also had radios.

All

members of the managerial system have beds of iron and mattresses.
Seventy-five percent of the members of the highest ranking
managerial group wear shoes dally and all of them use shoes for
ceremonial occasions.
Managerial employees are most active in local associa­
tions.

The foreman of the beneflclo served twelve years in

97
variouB offices of the P.T.A.

The overseer has served similarly

for seven years, and the chauffeur has served a total of five
years.

Two encargados have served in lesser posts as nVocalesH

(Alternates), but have not served as president, treasurer, or
secretary.

Other individuals in the community who have aotively

served in official posts in the P.T.A. Include the brother of the
overseer who is a prominent colono. the encargado of the oxdrivers, a carpenter, and another prominent colono.

These same

personalities have been traditionally Involved in church
leadership.
overseer.

The president of the Church Committee is the
The secretary-treasurer is the police agent.

The

priest complains that he gets little help from anyone in running
the church ceremonials and commented that he "can't count on
them (the Committee) for anything."

On the other hand, the

president of the Committee, the overseer, complained that "all
the responsibility falls on my hands.

Last year I was in charge

of the processions for Holy Week, ran the Churoh Committee, was
president of the P.T.A. and Board of Education, and ran the
futbal club."

The police agent complains that the real work falls

on him since "it takes money to do these things" and he complains
that "the overseer tries to dominate everything."
In addition to higher salaries, managerial employees
receive additional bonuses of coffee and money at the liquidation
of the coffee accounts, as mentioned previously, in July.

The

overseer and foreman of the benefiolo get one hundred pounds of

98
coffee each.

The chief carpenter gets seventy-five pounds, the

encargados receive fifty pounds, and the crew bosses of the
1?e.Il§.:£AiLi£ are given twenty-five pounds each.

Managerial employees

also receive double salary the week before Christmas and receive
a percentage of the harvest profit.

In 1950, the bonus of the

overseer is reputed to have totaled some three thousand colones.

Managerial employees, highly conscious of the relatively
superior position they hold, feel that they are morally better
because they have “character" which apparently is not a quality
expected to accrue to lesser individuals in the hierarchy.

In

words of the overseer:
"What makes a good overseer? One needs character.
He must not be afraid. Character means making
oneself respected, knowing how to do things, and
knowing how to get others to do things. One must
give them (the peones) good treatment. The most
difficult is finding easy work for women. The
overseer should have lived a long time on the
finca, he should know every Job, be able to do
every Job, and be willing to take complete
responsibility. He should show greatest respect
to his patron and keep his confidence. However,
there are certain things about the peones that
should not be told to the patron, and certain
things about the patron that should not be told
to the peones."
The success of the overseer seems more dependent upon
the possession of charismatic qualities than other members of the
managerial system.

He must deal with a large number of persons

each week, and is the only legitimate channel through which

99

inferiors can communicate to the patron or administrator*

During

the 19^8 revolution, an analysis of clique and prestige votes
taken during a survey-^- revealed that the overseer ranked highest
in both respects.

Two years later, the sample was tested on the

same questions to elicit clique and prestige votes, and the
overseer had dropped to second place hehind the police agent.
The results of the voting was discussed with both these parties
and they were in agreement that the rise of the police agent and
faLl of the overseer could be attributed to the fact that the
police agent had identified with the winning force in the
revolution while the overseer had identified with the losing
force.

Nevertheless, managerial employees still tended to receive

highest prestige votes (police agent, 28 votes; overseer,
26 votes; a colono, brother of the overseer, 20 votes; and the
foreman of the benefiolo. 19 votes).
The administrator made the following comment in com­
paring the overseer and foreman of the beneflcio:
"The fact that X (overseer) has been able to
maintain himself with the patron and with all
the administrators of the estate since holding
this position, and that he still controls the
people in spite of hie numerous petty injustices
and abuses of his authority is an indication
1.

Based on a twenty-five percent random sample, consisting of
forty-eight families, made in connection with the cooperative
community study project of the Department of Economics and
Rural Life, Inter-American Institute of Agricultural Sciences,
Turrialba, Costa Rica, 19*16. The questions asked were:
“With
whom do you like to talk and visit most frequently, " and "who
would you want to represent this town in a commission to the
president in case of a difficulty?"

100

of the Intelligence of the man. On the other
hand, while Y (foreman of the beneflclo) has
more money In the bank, he Is very "delicado"
(temperamental), hard to get along with. Not
only that, but he is mentally quite dull.”
At the level of the managerial system, authority is
explicitly defined.

One of the most difficult and delicate

relationships to maintain in equilibrium has been that which
exists among the three top men, the overseer, the foreman of
the beneflclo, and the chief carpenter.

The administrator

cited a "disgusto" between the overseer and foreman of the
beneflclo over the assignment of workers.

As a result, they

finally refused to communicate at all with each other for the
greater part of a year, and every point of contact between the
two had to be mediated by the administrator.

"For a whole

year," the administrator said, "I played errand boy between
these two men.

It wasn't worth the trouble, but the patron

is accustomed to babying them."
The Overseer
The overseer issues work orders and equipment (shovels,
baskets) to his enoargados, who relay these to the workers.
day begins at 6:30 a.m. when he goes to the stable to get his
horse.

One of the daily routines, on many of which the field

worker accompanied thA overseer, is presented here:

His

101

6:30
6:35
6:50
7:15
7:25
7:^5
8:05
8:15
8:35
8:55
9:15
9:35
9:50
10:00

10:15
10:35
10:^5
11:00
1:30
1:55
2:30

5:15
6:00

Picks up horse. Stable boy has it ready.
Instructions to foreman of ox-driver for the day.
To storehouse. Supervises distribution of
baskets to peones.
Issues orders to encargado of colonias.
Inspects fence repairs on road to patron1s
residence.
Checks peon making drain in the yard of the
patron *s residence.
Encounters son, his assistant, sends him on errand.
Called into house of colono about house repairs.
Promises to relay request to administrator who
will issue order to the chief carpenter.
Overtakes ox-drivers at traplche. Issues afternoon
orders to encargado. Talks with workers at
traplche.
Colono asks for baskets.
Arrives in cane fields. Finds encargado and
issues orders for following day.
Cuts across estate to check on men repairing bridge,
Returns by back trail, stops at colonla to.discuss
house change.
Checks men cutting cane. Crosses cane fields to
check men digging furrows for planting cane.
Demonstrates after scolding them for not making
them wider and deeper.
Passesthrough banana lot of his own in which a
son is trimming the .trees and clearing brush.
Arrives at coffee nursery. Discusses planting
and transplanting with encargado. Talks with two
women about work for the rest of the week.
Returns to center of estate and leaves horse at
stable.
Dinner and siesta.
Consults with administrator on work crew picking
coffee.
Returns to home where encargado of colonias reports
problems encountered in the morning. Issue orders.
Q-oes to beneflclo to supervise delivery of coffee.
Issues orders to son who leaves to supervise
measuring of coffee collected during the day.
Remains at receiving tank for two hours until all
the coffee is in. Talks with enoargados.
Returns to administrator's office to report on
coffee picked for the day.
Q-oes home for evening meal.
Enters statistics of day's production in books.
Visited by peones needing baskets and shovels.
Colono foreman discusses problems of his section.

102

7s30

Son brings tags deposited by colonos at office
indicating colonias ready to have coffee picked
up the following day. Enters number of colonia
and amount of coffee.
Futbal club meets and he conducts the meeting.

Costa Rican law is highly explicit as to the reasons
for which a man may be fired from his Job, and every laborer has
recourse to the courts in the event of being discharged under
conditions not covered by law.

Yet, the overseer manages to fire

those who incur his displeasure with little difficulty.

"I know,”

said the administrator, "that when X complains that he doesn't
like a certain man, that sooner or later that man will have to
go."

But X is far too clever to get caught rigging a framework.

"Every man," says X, "must make a slip sometime, and I make it
my business to be there when he does."

This was in reference

to getting rid of persons he did not like.
In addition to exercising power in firing employees,
X manages to flagrantly violate local moral codes without
dissipating his power.

It is a matter of universal knowledge

that he is the father of at least three local, illegitimate
children, and has offspring by a mistress in a nearby town.
Nevertheless, this behavior, which would result in vlolenoe if
committed by another, seems to leave X unaffected.

His bastard

children are recognized by his legitimate children as step­
brothers and step-sisters, but there is no special consideration
given them beyond the guarantee of employment for their mothers.

103

X Is openly frank about these matters, and readily confirms
numerous stories concerning his abuses.

In 1949, he was hospital­

ized in San Jose for "noises in the head" which he attributes to
excessive drinking, but which the administrator thinks was a
syphillltlc condition.

Whatever the cause, everyone is agreed

that X went "crazy" (loco) and was in the hospital for six
months.

X says that he is much better now, and the noises occur

less frequently.

The behavior of X constitutes something of a

puzzle in terms of the local situation, and perhaps can be aocounted
for better psychologically than sociologically.
The P.T.A. committee in charge of the spring festival
was delayed in making detailed arrangements until X could be
Induced to enter the scene.

After three futile meetings in which

no one was willing to support definite decisions, the chief
carpenter dourly commented:
this town."

"Without X nothing can be moved in

When X appeared at the end of the fourth meeting,

he stepped before the group, snapped a list of orders, and then
stipulated those persons who would handle each detail.

There was

no complaint about this manner of handling the situation» nor was
there criticism that he would manage the finanolal aspects of the
festival.

The meeting ended with all apparently satisfied now

that X had "straightened out" the necessary details.

When the

committee presented its report after the festival* there was
rejoicing because the tally showed a profit of some two thousand
pesos.

On the basis of quantities of food and liquor purchased

and sold, the field worker, a member of the committee, calculated
that the profit should have exceeded five thousand pesos after
other expenses were deducted.

It was taken for granted, however,

that X would make some personal profit, and questions were
answered with a shrug of the shoulders and comments to the effect
that without X there wouldn't even have been two thousand pesos.
X was chosen by the field worker as one of the Judges
for the evaluation of ranks in the sample of one hundred heads
of households.

He was, without question, one of the most

intelligent and frank informants possible to secure.
inevitably stood up under checking and reoheoklng.

His information
He was quick

to guess, and usually with uncanny accuracy, the kinds of
information in whloh the investigator was interested.

He would

often re-word a leading question and answer it showing shrewd
insight into what the field worker sought.

After ranking the

cards, he further obliged by separating them into two groups.
"These are my friends," he remarked, "and those are my enemies."
He further obliged by using the cards to show how local communica­
tions operated with special attention to his spy system, filling
in names when a link in the chain was not represented in the
sample.

The overseer's power will be discussed in greater detail

with reference to a specific case in the chapter on decision­
making. 2
2.

See Chapter VII.

105

Foreman of the Beneflclo
The dally routine of the foreman of the beneflclo is
far less complex than that of X.

His assistants begin the work

at the beneflclo shortly after 6:00 a.m., and he arrives one hour
later.

He first checks the coffee which has been soaking over­

night.

He checks It as it appears in the receiving tank.

His

chief preoccupation for the remainder of the day is to be present
in the event something goes wrong.

On Saturdays he pays those

employees who work In the beneflclo.

For five orsix months of

the year when there Is no processing

of coffee at the beneflclo.

he supervises the repairs which are made of the beneflclo and
its machinery.

It is the importance of the beneflclo and a key

operation in coffee production that gives his position the rank
it holds In Aquiares.
The foreman of the beneflclo has been less active in
community affairs in the last ten years, and as he approaches
retirement, he is withdrawing more and more from local activities.
That he is in special favor with the patron is illustrated by a
conflict which resulted when a newlyarrived administrator asked
to examine the records of the coffee

processed at the beneflclo.

Y, the foreman of the beneflclo. considered this a questioning
of his integrity, and being "muy delicado", refused.

The

administrator complained to the patron. who in turn tried to
ameliorate the hostility of Y.

But Y was adamant, and the patron

106

let him has his way.

The books were open to the patron and Y,

but not to the administrator.

Upon the arrival of a new

administrator some time after this occurence, Y had no qualms
about showing his books.

Such favoritism makes its unquestioned

impression upon the peones who are quick to detect special
relationships which obtain between members of the managerial
system and the patron.
The Chief Carpenter
Disliked for his radical views on religion and politics,
the chief carpenter also has an area outside his defined locus
of authority in which he is able to command special deference.
Even the bookkeeper has learned to treat him carefully.

For

reasons which are not immediately apparent, a conflict was
engendered between the two.

When some repairs were needed for

the bookkeeper's house, the chief carpenter initiated a series
of delays.

When the administrator finally insisted that the Job

be done immediately on complaint of the bookkeeper, the Job was
finished but with inferior tools and in an unsatisfactory manner.
There could be no recourse.
Even the lesser carpenters have ways of granting favors
which enhance their position and help them set the stage for
future manipulation.

No peon would dare ask the chief carpenter

for a few nails, but he might secure them from an ordinary

107

carpenter, though such a favor would not he forgotten.

The

police agent waited until the chief carpenter left the estate
for a day before taking a collection of household items over to
the shop where he and a carpenter repaired them.

Thus, he is

in a position to gain personal ends through the carpenters, but
knows his limit is with the chief carpenter.
The chief carpenter supervises the cutting of logs,
construction of carretas (ox carts), coffins, and furniture.
He received orders from the administrator for new construction
Jobs and repairs on houses, gates, bridges, and fences.

The

present chief carpenter is a comparative newcomer to the local
scene and has been on the estate only eleven years.

He was

brought to the estate from an urban enterprise of the patron,
and his general attitude reflecting urban cynicism, agnosticism,
and materialism are a source of friction with the local
population.

However, since he is the one who decides Just how

repairs will be done, who will do them, the quality of materials
to be used, and the quality of craftsmanship and time to be
consumed in the task, he enjoys a rather automonous position.
The encargados are all subordinate to the overseer.
Three are in charge of sections of eolonlas. and normally there
are three in charge of work crews, although on occasion there
may be more.

They receive general orders from the overseer,

but in the case encargados of colonias each decides how the

108

Individual oolono Is to comply with the general order.

The

encargado Is an Important Intermediary between the patron and
colono. for the encargado knows lntlr&ately the conditions of
each colonla and has a day-to-day working relationship with
the colonos.
The Chauffeur
The chauffeur transports coffee from the estate to
Turrlalba and carries necessary supplies.

He has from one to

four helpers depending upon the materials to be transported.
He also drives for the patron while on the estate and drives
him to and from San Jose.

He has a half-interest in a bus

which he drives back and forth to Turrlalba weekends carrying
local passengers.

The other half of the bus Is owned by his

father-in-law, the foreman of the beneflclo.

He Is in a position

to grant favors to persons who wish to have heavy articles
carried to or from Turrlalba.

When he does this with the

estate truck, he can, of course, make no charge.

On the other

hand, he is under no obligation to perform such services.

When

he uses his bus, he may or may not charge depending upon how
he wishes to conduct the matter.
The Commissary Employees and Stock Manager
The commissary workers and stock manager hold positions
of lesser consequence as members of the managerial system.

The

109

commissary worker Is in charge of the goods In the commissary.
He is in charge of goods sold and directs those assigned to work
there.

He may occasionally extend small amounts of credit

without being detected, thus incurring the indebtedness of many
persons.

The stock manager controls the pastures and is in a

position to give advice on the care of stock owned by local
inhabitants, and he occasionally allows temporary use of estate
pasture for grazing, although this is not frequent because of
the danger of detection.
In summary, the managerial system is to be distinguished
from the administrative system in terms of its more distant
relationship to ownership and control of the means of production,
namely land in Aquiares.

Members of the managerial system hold

their positions by virtue of skills they have of value to the
estate.

They can handle their own people and they know their

respective Jobs.

Recruits for the managerial ppsltions seem to

be drawn largely from the families of those already in the
managerial system.

As kinship ties between the families com­

prising the managerial system multiply, the system becomes more
and more a self-perpetuating stratum.

CHAPTER V I

THE COLONO AND PEON SYSTEMS
While the colono and peon have much in common whioh
makes a distinction between them at times difficult to discern,
they belong to different systems both in terms of their legal
relationship to the patron and in terms of the analytic
distinctions of this study.

These distinctions have a number

of consequences in the life of the inhabitants which merit
detailed discussion.

Following a discussion of these differences

some general observations will be made regarding those aspects
in which the two systems share common elements.
The Colono System
The colono system was introduced into Aquiares in 1915
as an experiment designed to resolve a problem with which the
owners of large estates in Costa Rica had long been confronted,
that of an unstable and limited labor supply.

Coffee production

requires large numbers of laborers for a few months during
harvest, but during.the remainder of the year, in which coffee
is being planted and cultivated, only a small force is needed.
In Turrlalba, the harvest is longer than in other areas because
of climatic peculiarities in this area.

Furthermore, there are

no large urban centers nearby, aside from Turrlalba city, from
which laborers can be easily recruited.

Ill

As a means of alleviating this situation, the first
superintendent of Aquiares proposed the following five-point
plan to establish a low cost labor force:
1.

Import colonos who held positions as peones
on other estates of the patron.
(Only peones
with histories of loyalty and desirable work
habits were to be selected.)

2.

Import groups of families which were already
acquainted with each other in order to
facilitate their adjustment.

3.

Cede each family a colonla of about three
manzanas per family of five.

4.

Provide housing and wood.

5.

Grant each family a small plot of land for
the cultivation of garden crops "to keep them
busy during the off-season." The produce
and Income from the harvest on these plots
were for subsistence purposes, although
surplus could be sold. Money for the purchase
of seeds, fertilizers, and equipment was to
be made available in the form of loans.

Colonos were imported from Desamparados, San Antonio,
Patarra. flan Pedro. Monte de Oca. San Francisco de Dos Rios,
Tres Rios. and Cachl.

The dependence of these colonos upon the

administrative representatives must have been marked, and the
established tradition of deference behavior obtaining between
administrative and labor personnel appears sufficient to preclude
the need for much direct coercion.

Even in the matter of voting

which had been previously discussed, the administrative system
maintained control.
remarked:

In an interview, the former superintendent

112

"I never used a revolver. In fact, I never
owned one. Before the people voted, they
used to come to us (the patron and himself)
and ask how we planned to vote. They
always voted as we did."
The system seems to have worked out satisfactorily
for the owner, for it is still in operation and apparently
will continue into the future.

One author has evaluated this

particular experiment in an article on agricultural colonies
appearing in a Costa Rican Journal:
"The farm in general can he considered a
model In every aspect.
Its Inhabitants live with the happiness of
those who satisfy their needs by the
effectiveness of their labor and the
productivity of the soil, by their trust
in their patron, and finally because it is
easy to continue In the patriarchal life
of their forefathers of ancient times with
its simple happiness within the heart."
Every inhabitant of Aquiares who completes
a determined length of residence on the
farm is eligible for a plot of land, a
colony, which is for him a small investment."
These colonists never leave the land, because
it does not betray them."
For M r .
, the farm Is productive. And he
has not attempted to sell it although his
health is not good. He loves his land."
An important detail is that each colono is
advanced the money neoessary for continuing
the work of his colony, and when he harvests
the beans, he is paid a fixed price."

113

All of the Inhabitants of Aquiares are stable,
Independent, and markedly attached to their
land. One never sees a drunk worker there
and liquor is not sold in the commissary."
It would be worthwhile to make special studies
relating (this system) to the operation of the
farm in order to adapt it to others in the
nation. M-L
Although the colono system obviously has many advantages
these comments seem somewhat biased In favor of it.

People do

leave the colonlas. one does see drunk workers here, not all
persons receive a colony after a determined length of time, and
not all the inhabitants are "stable, independent, and markedly
attached to the land.
The technical aspect which obtains between the
administrative and colono systems has been described in these
words by Paul Morrison:
"The colono contracts with the landowner to
care for and harvest, under the supervision
of an employee of the landowner, a lot of
coffee for a fixed price per fanega of
coffee produced. At the end of the harvest,
the colono is paid any difference due him
after the total of weekly advances he has
received has been deducted from the value of
the crop at the contract rate."2
The colono receives his orders from a member of the
managerial system called an encargado (foreman) who supervises
1.

Carlos L. Valle, o£. clt.. p. 167*

2.

Thomas L. Norris and Paul C. Morrison, Aquiares a Large
Costa Rican Coffee Flnoa: The Agricultural System, op. clt.
pp. 8-9.

ru
the colonias in one section of the estate.

The encargado

passes through his sector daily and observes the progress of
each colono in the work presently being carried on.

Once a

week he talks with the colono to calculate how much mon^he
shall be advanced for the operation then in progress.

Kie rate

for each operation varies, but is set so that a week's advance
will approximate the salary paid to a peon.

The colono does not,

however, receive compensation for the work of members of his
family in the colonia.

The rate for the current operation is

paid only to the head of the colonia.
The rates for the most important operations during
the 1950-51 season were as follows:
Harvest ..............
Bonus (credit in Corals.
Cleaning weeds........
Shade pruning ........
Trimming coffee trees .
Trimming tops (dlshija)
Planting new trees. . .

60.00
1.20
25.00
6.00
6.00
10.00
.10

colones
colones
colones
colones
colones
colones
colones

per
per
per
per
per
per
per

fanega
canasta
manzana
manzana
manzana
manzana
seedling

In addition to a two or three-room house, the colono
gets free firewood (taken from dead coffee trees on his colonia)
and a plot for home crops, if he so desires.

Bananas, beans,

onions, cane, maize, tomatoes, squash and pumpkins are most
generally grown.

The average size of the garden plots worked

by colonos is .7 manzana.

The "right" to work a plot, which

is ceded by the patron, is often "sold" to another colono or

115

peon, and the price ranges from two hundred to five hundred
colones, depending upon the size of the plot, whether or not
it is cleared, or has a crop planted.

The average size of

colonias is about five manzanas. but the seventy-eight colonlas
on the estate range from two to ten manzanas in size.

The

average harvest per colonia in 1950 w&s about forty-seven
fanegas, giving an average coffee-production return of some
2800 colones to the colonos.

At best individual and average

calculations on this type of data are rough approximations
since inclement weather, a poor crop, or lack of work may
modify production over a period.

Furthermore, a colono

frequently finds it difficult to recall what the total income
was because of weekly deductions.

The difference in income

between peon and colono is about 1300 colones, the former
averaging 1500 colones a year.

This difference is somewhat

balanced out by virtue of the fact that a colono receives no
compensation for the productive labor of any able bodied members
of his family, while the peon1s son is likely to be able to
secure at least intermittent employment as a peon.

However,

there are occasions, though infrequent, when extra labor is
needed, and the sons of colonos are able to secure work as
peones.

The contract of the colono also obligates him to work

for the estate as a salaried day worker on occasions when his
labor may be needed.

116

As members of a system distinct from that of the
peones, the colonos feel that their lot is somewhat more
advantageous, as shown by the following remark:
"The advantage in being a colono is that I
can get up in the m o m 1ng whenever I want,
while the peoneB must be at work at 6 a.m."
Interviews with peones and colonos alike Indicated
almost unanimous agreement that the life of the colono

was more

desirable. chiefly because of the added independence.

The fact

that the

colono receives a substantial sum of money at one

fixed

time during the year appealed to those peones who were questioned,
but the colonos were more reserved in estimating the pecuniary
advantages of their system.

This is indicated in these words

by a colono:
"The colono system is deceptive for those who
have never operated a colonia. Nevertheless,
the colono has a better opportunity to open
the doors to luck if he uses his head."
Much of the money received at the liquidation of

the

coffee accounts goes towards the purchase of clothing and house­
hold supplies.

However, a certain amount of celebrating and

party-giving seems expected at that time, and occasionally large
sums of money are dissipated in a few days.

One colono went

on a weekend celebration in San Jose. and spent the last 100
colones of his year's earning to pay a return taxi fare from
his spree in the capitol.

117

Apparently, the Independence of the colono has been
dwindling in recent years.

More and more, the administrative

system has undertaken to organize the colonos in work crews
to carry out more crucial coffee operations under the
surveillance of an encargado.

A number of colonos in a section

are brought together on one colonia. and perform the work under
the supervision of an encargado.

The colonos are paid the

minimum wage for peones when working under these circumstances,
and the total amount paid the workers in each colonia is
deducted from the account of the colono on whose colonia they
have been working.
Insofar as the purpose of the colono system is to
provide a stable population affording a constant reservoir of
workers at a minimum of cost, it can be said that it is a
successful and integral feature of the structure of Aquiares.
The contractual relationship between colono and patron is the
strongest element in producing this condition.

Dependency has

been increased, and with some calculation oil the part of the
members of the administrative system, by selectivity of colonos.
provision of elements for subsistence in the form of housing,
garden, fire wood, and awarding of loans.

Oolonos have also

been encouraged by the patron to acquire a nominal amount of
capital, especially in the form of chickens, cows, and house­
hold goods.

The move to encourage acquisitions of cows has

118
been somewhat hampered by the lack of pasture for both estate
and privately owned stock.

The rationale behind this policy

seems to be that the acquisition of a nominal amount of capital
goods restricts the mobility of the owner, and therefore ties
him more securely to the estate.

The relative isolation of the

estate has also resulted in considerable development of kinship
bonds through inter-marriage, a factor contributing also to
greater stability.

That the colono himself feels that his lot

is more desirable than that of the peon is evidenced both in
their own comments and in the evaluations of the JudgeB (see
Table I Appendix).

The table indicates a tendency for the

Judges to rank colonos somewhat consistently higher than peones
although there is no clear line of demarcation between the two
systems as far as ranking is concerned.
Comparison of the Colono and Peon Systems
The peones were characterized by the Judges by the
following comments:
Spanish___________________________ English_____________________
Muy Jodidos
Es cochinado
No tiene nada
Muy pobres
No sabe mane Jar
No tiene dinero ni busca el medio
Vicioso

All messed up
Filthy
Has nothing
Very poor
Doesn't know how tomanage money
Has no money nor seeks away to
get it
Given to vice

119

Spanish___________________________ English_______________________
Tiene sue defectos
Fregadillo
Es viuda
Es inutil
Apenas pasa

Has shortcomings
On the rocks
A widow
Useless
Barely gets by

Just as colonos tend to fall below the managerial system,
day laborers predominatS towards the bottom of the rankings, as
Table I, Appendix, indicates.
very bottom.

Widows, by and large, fall at the

This is because the woman, in Aquiares is almost

completely dependent upon her husband for her status.

When a

poverty-bound peon dies, leaving a widow and children, she is
entirely dependent upon the charity of her relatives and friends,
or in cases where her husband has served the estate faithfully
over a period of time, she may receive a pension of from five to
twenty-one colones a week.
The advantage which the colono has over the peon in
rank is both a function of superior over-all income and greater
independence.

While the colono must, in general, comply with

the instructions of his encargado. there is no one to insist
that he begin and quit work at specified hours or days, and
time which he takes off is not accompanied by any direct penalty.
"He is more independent," said one colono, "and has a base upon
which to build.
peon doesn't."

He has liberty to do many things which the
One peon expressed the more advantageous position

120

of the colono In terms of the confidence he felt was manifest
on the part of the administration towards the colono:

"They

have confidence In him and so give him a contract."
Oolonos are not as sure that their position is
advantageous as their peon associates believe.

A higher ranking

colono said:
"The colono system is tricky for anyone who
has never had a colonia. Nevertheless the
colono at least has a chance to get ahead."
The following soliloquy was uttered by a twenty year
old youth who was born on the estate and who worked as a peon:
"Here we are b o m shoveling (paleando). Day
after day, week after week, month after month,
the same thing. Every day all day I'm stuck
in this mess, tossing dirt from this side to
that. Comes Sunday, and I take a few drinks.
There is always someone who will take me home
if I get too drunk."
As mentioned previously, the festivities during Holy
Week afford opportunity for the expression of lndlrectas in
the form of derision cloaked in humor.

A local peon dressed

as Judas reads a last will and testament prior to the burning
of his effigy after the high Mass of Easter morning.

The will

is written verse and is read from a high rock with the towns­
people congregated around him.

Each verse specifies an item

which the Judas is leaving to some local personage.

This

121

affords opportunity for some subtle, and some not-so-subtle Jabs
at persons higher In the structure.

Even the overseer and

foreman of the beneflclo are not Immune from this mild form of
aggression.

During the display seen by the field worker the

verse for the overseer referred to his affairs with younger
girls, and that for the foreman of the beneflclo to his frugality.
But nothing is said about the priest, administrator, or police
agent.

"One cannot Joke about them", said Judas.

is also included, but the verse is complementary.

The patron
Formerly,

the Jokes were more barbed in content and intent, and fights
are supposed to have been common.
In a discussion with peones about their chances of
getting ahead, an older peon dryly commented:
"Aqul somos nosotros, y nada mas."
"Here we're ouselves and nothing more."
It appears as though the peon were literally at the
end of the pecking order.

Continual pressure from above

accompanied by the ever-present struggle to keep home life at
a subsistence level seems to be accompanied by various forms
of aggressive behavior.
are common.

Fighting, quarreling, and bickering

A common occurence is the lndlrecta, a form of

aggression frequently found in Latin American communities.
The lndlrecta in Aquiares consists generally of rolling a large

122

stone In the middle of a road to he used by ox-carts, Jeeps,
or the estate truck, blocking traffic until it is removed.
The large coffee storage boxes in front of each colonia are
frequently over-turned, although a storage box containing
harvested coffee was never turned over during the residence
of the field worker.

The aggression seems to be directed not

against fellow peones or colonos. but rather the estate itself.
Another practice consists of shouting and whistling late at
night to disturb those who are sleeping.
If a peon has a Job entailing less manual labor, he
is envied by his fellows even though the work may mean no
increase in salary.

A boyero or ox-driver, earns the usual

5.20 colones a day but is considered to have more desirable
employment.
Direct violence when it occurs among the peones or
colonoB is generally accompanied by heavy drinking.

For example,

the son of a colono was engaged to marry the daughter of another
colono.
pregnant.

Before the marriage was performed, the girl became
Nothing was done about the matter until several

weeks after the discovery, when the families involved engaged
in rebuttal after considerable drinking.

The girl's father

insisted that the boy marry the girl immediately.
ensued.

A fight

Several weeks later the marriage was performed.

123

Shortly after the wedding, the boy and his father-in-law were
present together at a party, and again, under the Influence of
liquor, a fight broke out and the older man sustained a fractured
nose.

The police agent intervened and locked the boy up in the

Jail.

He was released several days later, but only after

relatives of both parties applied pressure to the fathers to
settle their difference peaceably.

The families were already

closely knit by marriage ties, and the dispute was taxing the
family system.
Similar circumstances which occur across systems are
not conducted in the same way.

The case of the overseer who was

able to consistently violate local girls, and thereby occasionally
making them pregnant, has been discussed in a previous chapter.
Here there was no violence.

The families of the girls accepted

the consequences of the overseer's behavior.

However, when the

same behavior resulted in the pregnancy of a daughter of the
foreman of the beneflclo and a son of the overseer was responsible,
violence was threatened and the pair was married.
Since fighting is one of the few retorts which a peon
has against his peer, a premium is placed upon masculinity.
Various symbols are used to manifest one's masculinity.

Most

conspicuous among them is the possession of a machete.

Greater

status accrues to the one whose machete rings true when flicked
with the finger, and the quality and intricacy of design on the

12k
scabbard are important.

Those who can afford more ostentatious

machetes and scabbards display them ostentatiously and proudly.
An ornate buckle and belt for the scabbard complete the equipment.
The overseer has a curious way of Judging newcomers or applicants
for employment.

He says:

"I always Judge a man by his belt and machete.
It never fails. The quality of the man is
seen in these. If the machete is rusty, the
scabbard torn or bruised, and he uses a rope
cord for a belt, I won't hire him. But bring
me a man with a machete which rings true and
a belt that is a belt, and I know I can hire
him. M
It Is a man's world in Aquiares, and though a man may
be at the bottom of the social heap, he may rightly say:
house, I am king."

(En mi casa soy yo quien manda).

"in my

It is the

male who is the breadwinner although all are expected to turn
out for the harvest, and it is the father who carries a cloth
sack to the commissary or to Turrlalba to make purchases.

The

only women who appear at the commissary are small girls running
occasional errands or widows whose husbands are dead.

Men

strongly disapprove of too much visiting among women, and gossip,
though common, is frowned upon.
The bachelor and old maid do not fit well in Aquiares
and are apt to be regarded as peculiar.
no value."

"He who has no son has

"A single person Is dead weight."

125

It is uncommon for a widower to remain single for long
after the death of his wife, unless he is already senile.
Generally a widower will look for a younger woman.

Twice during

the residence of the field worker, widowers over sixty-five
arranged for women under twenty-five to keep house for them, and
"keeping house" in Aquiareft extends beyond domestic duties.

It

is seldom that a widow will remarry if she already has children
although there are some cases.

The woman "keeping house" for a

prominent colono is regarded highly in the community, and one
informant, an intimate friend of the colono commented that he
found her a more satisfactory woman about the house than the
wife who had died.

But the position of these common-law-wives

is difficult since her security depends largely upon her ability
to please the man with whom she is living.

Neither church nor

state make any provisions for her defense, and she must frequently
struggle with the problem of children who, with their father,
romanticize and idealize the first wife.
Sons are, of course, valued higher than daughters.
A son is expected to contribute to the family from the time he
begins to work until he marries, usually at about twenty-five
years of age.

Between eighteen and twenty-five It is expected

that he will "sow his wild oats" and "become^ a man by doing
what a man does."

Aqularenos frequently speak of "preferred

sons" and "preferred daughters."
deny him anything.

"We have spoiled V and can't

We let him have his way, because after all,

126

he Is our 'hijo preferido' (preferred son)."

In this connection,

it becomes possible for a younger brother to command an older
brother.

"HIJo preferido" tends to be the youngest male and

both older brothers and all sisters not only tolerate his
demands but also Indulge him.
Although living conditions In Aquiares are estimated
to be better In general than on similar estates In the Turrlalba
area and the inhabitants are strongly Identified with their
patron, the weight of this system gives rise to some grumblings.
The following is an indicative statement:
"This Is a good farm to work on, but it
needs another type of administration.
That
German is too totalitarian."
Most antagonism on the verbal level is directed toward
the administrator who is considered harsh, over-economical,
unsympathetic, and tyrannical.

For example:

"He soaks the peon
To give to the patron."
However, on some occasions, a peon may over-step his
bounds.

Once during the residence of the field worker, a peon

appeared before the administrator and threatened violence.

The

overseer predicted that the man would not be on the estate long,
and within a few days was dispatched to other grounds.

12?
The patron, on the other hand, remains quite Immune
from direct criticism.

He is thought of as “our second father”

and “a good and Just man.”

A sampling of the comments, yields

the following:
"When it is necessary to be firm, he is firm,
and gentle when he should be gentle. But he
is always Just."
"He gives the mandadores their bonuses, and
the widows get their pensions. Everyone gets
the Christmas tip. This doesn't happen any­
where in Costa Rica but Aquiares."
"In all of Costa Rica there is no patron like
ours."
“If Costa Rica has twenty patrons like ours,
this country would be singing a different
song today."
"He protects the poor widows."
“Aquiares is his first love. Who knows what
will happen to us when he dies."
It is this sense of dependency which minimizes any sense
oppression which might be directed against the owner.

One is born

to be a peon (Aqui nacemos paleando) and one dies a peon
(y morimos paleando).

On the other hand, high status is not

always envied, as suggested in the following quotation:
"They (the administrative personnel) are
always complaining. We who have nothing
are happy. If we are fortunate to win a
few colones or earn a little, we are still
happy; but they are never happy with all
their thousands and thousands of dollars."

128
%

Thus, the life of the peon consists of being
reconciled to the station to which he was born and In remaining
content with the yearly round of work with its periodic
releases in the Nativity, Easter, and Patron Saint festivities.
Security is derived from the relationship which
obtains between the peon as the obedient son and the patron
as the good father.

Insecurity results in some hostility

directed toward the administrator who is seen as the tyrant.
All three elements seems an indispensable part of the drama
of life on this Costa Rican coffee estate, and as long as the
three are kept in balance the system will go on.

CHAPTER VII
THREE DECISIONS
The relationships which obtain between structural
positions of different systems are manifested in patterns of
expectancies and demands, rights and duties, identification
with a dominant and/or submissive system, and are part of the
inquiry with which this study has been concerned.

To see the

systems previously described in a unit of interaction as they
strive to protect, maintain, and perpetuate their interests
is one way to pin-point the problem of probing into the
dynamics of inter-system relationships.

Specific decision­

making events have been selected because they make more
explicit the goals towards which each system is striving.
The three decision-making events are (1) the
election of a popularity queen, (2) a P.T.A. meeting, and
(3) an outhouse building campaign.

As each episode is

presented, the actors are identified as to their structural
position.
1.

The Election of a Popularity Queen

In connection with the spring festival, the overseer
proposed that a popularity queen should be elected.

Admirers

would buy votes for the girls nominated and the proceeds would

130

be used to defray fiesta expenses and the balance would be
applied to the P.T.A. budget for school hot lunches.

The

following Individuals were the principle actors in the decision­
making events:
1.
2.
3.
b.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Overseer, managerial system
Colono. of the colono system
School director, of a tangential system
Field worker, of a tangential system
Chief carpenter, managerial system
Teen-age girl, daughter of the foreman
of the beneflclo. managerial system
Teen-age girl, daughter of the overseer,
managerial system
Teen-age girl, daughter of a colono
colono system.
Teen-age girl, daughter of a peon, peon
system

A committee of "Judges" was nominated in a P.T.A.
meeting.

They were to supervise the election and presentation

of the queen to guarantee that everything was kept "above board."
The committee consisted of the chief carpenter, the field worker,
and a colono. the brother of the overseer.

The Judges agreed

unanimously to the proposal of the chief carpenter that the
young men of the community between the ages of fourteen and
twenty-five would cast nomination votes for candidates at a
special meeting.

This procedure would not eliminate other

girls from being nominated by receiving purchased votes, but
it did constitute a device by which the campaign could be spear­
headed and given impetus.

The meeting was held one evening in

131

the school house.

A "ballot box was placed at the front of the

room, and the three Judges sat behind the box.

The youths were

allowed one hour in which they could come and cast their votes.
At the end of the hour, the votes were tallied with the following
results:
1.
2.
3.

Daughter of
(^5 votes).
Daughter of
futbal team
Daughter of

the foreman of the beneflclo
Colono X, madrlna of the
^39 votes).
Peon Y (6 votes).

Votes were then mimeographed, and each vote was signed
by each of the Judges and stamped with the school seal to avoid
counterfeiting.

They were then placed on sale at ten centimos.

Each Judge kept his own record of the number of votes sold and
the amount allotted was recorded.

Two weeks were allowed for

the purchase and casting of votes.

Results were tallied every

five days and posted at the commissary.

One other candidate,

daughter of a colono. was nominated by purchase-ballot, but did
not poll a significant total of votes.

As soon as the first

nominations were definite, the Judges talked with the fathers
of the girls to ascertain whether or not they would permit
their daughters to participate.

All of the fathers were at

first dubious, but succumbed to the argument of "the good of
the school and community" and the honor which it meant for the
girls.

The cooperation of the fathers was necessary since some

expense would be involved in having evening dresses made.

132

The futbal team rallied around their madrlna.

The

chief carpenter, his son, and the son-in-law of the foreman
of the beneficlo rallied behind the daughter of the latter.
Her fiance from Turrialba, reputed to be wealthy, was rumored
to have guaranteed her election by providing money to under­
write the campaign in her favor.

The remaining candidates were

supported by neighborhood groups, and made slim showings.

Prior

to the first vote count, the Judges announced that all candidates
would serve as maids of honor to the queen.
The overseer did not enter the scene again until
after the election.

He remarked to the field worker that

"this queen business would only make for bitterness.

There

is nothing worse than letting an Indian serve ohlcha (no hay
cosa peor que poner a un indio a repartir chlcha)."

That is

to say, the Indian will imbibe the drink he is supposed to
distribute, get drunk, over-exaggerate his Importance, and
cause a scandal.

This was a curious position to take in view

of his role in getting the campaign started.

The overseer

further suggested that the election was "in the bag."

"No one

here can out-buy B's (daughter of the foreman of the beneficlo)
boy friend.

Besides, she is getting married soon and her

father wants her last party to be a big affair."
The daughter of the foreman of the beneficlo
maintained her lead in the first count.

She was passed by the

133

madrlna. of the futbal team at the second count by a narrow
margin.

At this time, the overseer showed the field worker

his own calculation of the distribution of votes, demonstrating
that more votes had been purchased than were cast, and that
someone was holding a large reservoir of votes.

A check with

the vote-allotment record showed that the chief carpenter and
his son and son-in-law had purchased a quantity approximating
that not yet cast.

On the morning of the final count, five

hundred votes were mimeographed for final sale.

The overseer

suggested that the field worker purchase all five hundred.
Obviously he felt the field worker might play ball, cast the
votes for the madrlna of the futbal team of which he was
president, and carry the election with a three hundred vote
margin.

As soon as the votes were signed and stamped, the

chief carpenter spoke up for two hundred and fifty votes which
he stated were promised to an admirer of one of the candidates.
In view of this move, any Inclinations which the field worker
may have entertained to participate in the purchase of votes
were dispelled.
A large group gathered for the final count of more
than two thousand votes which had been cast.

The votes were

counted by each Judge separately and the tally marked on the
board.

The daughter of the foreman of the beneficlo won by

several hundred votes.

The chief carpenter was triumphant.

13^
Preparations for the fiesta moved rapidly.

The .lefe

poljftico was invited and invitations were sent out to other
towns.

The night before the appearance of the queen and her

court of honor, the overseer swung into action.

Within an

hour's time, he contacted the Judges and the director of the
school, pointing out how ridiculous it was for a queen to have
only three maids of honor.

"In Turrialba, they always have

four" was his argument.

"People will laugh at us in Aquiares

for not knowing better.

There should be another maid of honor."

The fact that this was a violation of the policy set by the
Judges did not seem to be relevant.

The field worker stated

that he would have to vote negatively to such a procedure
because it would not be fair to the other Oandidates nor to the
persons who had purchased votes.
agreed to reverse the policy.

But the other two Judges

Late that evening, the seamstress

daughter of the chief carpenter was busy making an evening gown
for the overseer1s daughter.

She appeared in the processions

and at the coronation of the queen.
The event demonstrates the superior skill of managerial
positions in manipulating others to achieve their desired ends.
The overseer could not compete with the foreman of the beneficlo
since he did not wish to put out the money involved.

Although

he felt it was hopeless, he did throw support to the madrlna
of hi8 futbal team and came close to stealing the election by
almost bringing the field worker to purchase a large block of

TABLE IV
DECISIONS IN THE POPULARITY QUEEN CONTEST
d ESTs Io n

'

......

'

"

'ETV5ZM

'"'SYSTEM 0**' CftlClN

1. To conduct popularity contest, overseer

managerial

S. To establish rules for voting. Judges: chief
carpenter, sohool
director,
investigator

managerial,
tangential.

3. To purchase election for the
daughter of the foreman of
the beneficio.

4. To declare election final and
valid.

foreman of
beneficio. chief
carpenter, girl's
fiance

managerial
managerial

Judges: above (l)

Judges: above (1

5. To include the daughter of the overseer
overseer in the queen's court chief carpenter
school director
of honor; i.e., over-rule
decisions 2. and 3.

tangentlal

managerial
managerial
managerial

135

votes.

Once the election was decided, he waited until the last

moment and then proposed his daughter as a maid of honor, enterinto alliance with two of the Judges.

The chief carpenter

benefited by the move because his daughter received a dress­
making Job.
overseer.

The remaining Judge, a colono. was brother of the
The other candidates received only token support.

The standing of the systems involved at the end of the campaign
in all respects was in rank order.

The managerial system was

dominant, the colono system followed, and the peon system was
at the bottom in terms of the arrangement of the actors in the
event.

Table IV shows the sequence of salient decisions in

terms of the structural position involved, and the system of
origin.
2.

A Meeting of the P.T.A.

The following transcript of a P.T.A. meeting from
field notes shows the interaction among members of the
administrative, managerial, colono. and a tangential system,
the school.

The total number of persons present was fifteen,

but only the following contributed:
1.
2.
3.

Director of the School, member of the
school system.
Administrator (traditionally treasurer
of the P.T.A., member of the
administrative system.
Chief Carpenter, Vice president of the
P.T.A., member of the managerial system.

136

5.
6.
7.

Colono X, brother of the overseer, member
of the colono system.
Sra. Y, teacher, wife of police agent,
member of school system.
Sra. Z, teacher and wife of commissary
worker, member of school system.
A, an encargado. father-in-law of Sra. Z,
and member of the managerial system.

Introduction by Director of the School. Thanks
to participants for Interest and to the farm
for its carlno (love) towards the community as
manifested by the presence of the administrator.
Review of the Ideals of the educational system.
Administrator asks for floor.
Adm.

: I desire that a committee audit my treasurer's
reports.

Y

: No audit of the books is necessary. We all have
confidence in don P (the administrator).

Adm.

: We have begun a new year, and an audit, though
purely a matter of form, is necessary. I know
you don't doubt my honesty, and neither do I,
. but we should go through the formality.

Ch. Carp. :

We have complete trust in don P. There is no
point in an audit. I only want to know how much
cash we have on hand.

Colono X

: I think such a statement is enough.
of agreement from A and Z.)

(Exclamations

Adm.

: We have seven hundred and fifty-four oolones.

Dir. of
Sch.

:

This is three hundred colones gain over what
we had last year. Magnificol Magnified Now,
what to do with this money! The most Important
work of the P.T.A. has always been the school
lunch program.

X

:

We must build a shelter to protect an eating
table.

137

Dir. of
Sch.

l

(Enters Into four minute discourse including
description of a summer course he took,
sanitation, home improvements, new agricultural
techniques, '•culture1', and the possibility
of using the shelter as a carpenter shop.)

Adm;

:

Our problem, then, is what will we need
and how and when can we get it? I under­
stand that last year there were some
difficulties that you wish to avoid this
year. Let us begin from the beginning.
First of all, is the stove you used last
year satisfactory?

Dir. of
Sch.

: No, no.

Adm.

: What do

The stove is very poor.
you propose to put in its place?

Ch. Caf*p. : (Enters long discussion of the stove, draws
diagrams showing circulation of smoke.
Proposes a shield be added to proteot the
cook.)
Adm.

: Then is it simply a matter of having the
shop produce a shield. The estate will
donate that. Now, the next point is
equipment. How many pots and pans do you
need, and what will they cost?

Sra. Y

: We need several new pots,
(interjection
by Sra. Z, "yes, all new pots!") It would
cost at least seventy-five colones.

Adm.

: Then we buy new pots.

Sra. Z

: I think each teacher should have a small pot
so that she can feed her own class.
If each teacher does this in her own class
foom, why do you need a new shelter?
Besides, such projects can be carried out
only through the permission of the patron.
I understand you are also interested in a
new class room. Which do you want?

Adm.

Dir. of
Sch.

:

But we want all the children together at one
time. It's for their own cultural benefit.
We want them to learn to eat like human beings.

o

X

133

:

Yes, part of education is to teach children
to eat properly.

Ch. Carp. :

At least there should be a shelter for
cooking equipment and the stove.

Adm.

This may be a good idea, but • . .

:

Ch. Carp. : The construction of the shield is also very
Important.
(Begins six and a half minute
discussion on the construction of different
kinds of cooking stoves and proposes a
design for a shelter which he illustrates
on the blackboard and corrects several
times.)
Adm.

:

Very well. I suggest that don A (chief
carpenter) make a design for the stove and
shelter. The farm will give the wood and
labor. The P.T.A. can buy the utensils,
but I suggest that they buy it through the
patron in San Jose. He can get a discount.

Ch. Carp. :

The trouble with a shelter is that it would
be first, dangerous; second, of short
duration; and third, unaesthetlc.

Colono X

: Yes, very unaesthetlc.

Adm.

:

Then what will you do with the class in
carpentry?

Ch. Carp. : A good carpenter can Install himself in a
square meter of space. There is no need
for a shelter.
Dir. of
Sch.

:

I think we have resolved the problem of
carpentry and school lunches. The new
room for the school is more important.

Adm.

:

But actually the question of the school
room is not for the P.T.A. to decide, but
rather for the school board in conference
with the patron. The school board might
present the matter to the patron if they
wish.

139

Dir. of
Sch.

:We will leave the matter of the stove and
its shelter in the hands of don A (chief
carpenter) and don F (administrator).

Oh. Carp,

sThe teachers will prepare the lunches and
we will provide the necessary materials.

Adm.

:Very well.
begin?

Now, when does the lunch program

Ch. Carp. : The best we can do is the first of April
since we are now almost into Holy Week.
Adm.

: How much money a month will we need?

Sra. Y

: Last year it was one hundred colones a month.

Adm.

: I have an idea it was two hundred colones
a month.
(Checks and discovers it was.)
In that case, we will have enough money for
two months after buying the new equipment.
You will have to have a school fair or
something to cover the remaining eight
months.

Dir. of
Sch.

: This will be first on the agenda for the
next meeting. I have some letters to read
from the Department of Education and
Department of Public Health.
(Reads
letters.) Adjourns meeting.
The dominating figure in this meeting is, of course,

the administrator who assumed the role of unofficial moderator
even though the school director was official moderator in the
absence of the overseer, president of the P.T.A. , who was
absent.

The absence of the overseer may be as important a

sociological datum as his presence.

It was noted in the

popularity queen contest that the overseer, although a
significant person in the drama, was absent from many of the

TABLE V
DECISIONS IN THE P.T.A. MEETING
DECISION

BY WHOM

SYSTEM OF ORIGIN

1. To define project for dining shed
as outside P.T.A. jurisdiction.

administrator

administrative

2. To build stove and stove-shelter.

administrator

administrative

3. To hold a fiesta to raise funds
for traditional school lunoh
program.

administrator

administrative

4. To defer matter of new school
classroom to natron.

administrator

administrative

1^0

formal activities.

It was previously mentioned that the final

preparations for the fiesta in which the election of a popularity
queen was a part could not he carried out until the overseer
finally came to a meeting and gave the necessary orders.

In

his absence at the meeting Just described, the administrator
assumed his role, although the chief carpenter was Vice President.
The skill with which the administrator manipulated the meeting
so as to achieve goals which were compatible with the best
interests of the estate as he conceived them illustrates one
important aspect of his role which may be called into play to
modify the behavior of others.

His line of attack was consistent,

while those of the chief carpenter and school director were
contradictory at various times during the meeting.

Contra­

diction of this sort appears to be a function of responding
appropriately to an action originated by a person in a dominant
system.

It is also interesting to note that the shhool teachers

and the encargado and colono all took minor roles and their
contribution was to

occasionally support or confirm a statement

made by someone of higher rank.
during the meeting.

No person of peon status spoke

Table V contains the salient decisions and

decision-makers.
3.

The Outhouse Campaign

The third decision-making event is presented to
illustrate the Juxtaposition of the roles of the patron,

1^1

administrator, and director of the school in an event which
involved a reversal of the administrator's decision by the
•patron.
As a part of the training which he received while
attending a summer extension course for rural teachers, the
director of the school planned, among other things, to introduce
a campaign for the construction of outhouses among the peones
and colonos of the estate.

Less than ten percent of the

families had such facilities.

The field worker had previously

been assigned the role of giving counsel to the director of
the school in the strategy of his plan.
Shortly before the beginning of the school year, the
teachers took a census of the school population on the estate.
The director planned to spread propaganda for his projects
while taking this census since he would have contact with a
large number of inhabitants at this time.

The field worker

advised against this and suggested the director wait until the
patron arrived at which time he could present his ideas and
*
seek support.
The enthusiasm of the director led him to disregard
this suggestion and he went ahead spreading his propaganda.
He organized the colonos and peones into neighborhood groupings
and administered "sociometric" teste from which he derived
“leaders".

These leaders were delegated the responsibility of

1^2

gathering a group of their neighbors into teams.
the program began to encounter difficulty.

At that point,

The school director

had promised the natives that the outhouses could be constructed
solely out of materials available at no cost locally.

However,

a wooden platform was needed, and the director of the school had
neither wood, tools, nor nails.
and asked for cooperation.

He went to the administrator

He returned to report that the

administrator had given "unconditional support of the program".
On this basis, he advised people in the groups to start digging
pits and promised the platforms as soon as they accomplished
this task.

Soon orders for platforms began to arrive and the

director of the school went to the chief carpenter with a list
of persons who needed platforms.

The chief carpenter requested

an order from the administrator.

When the director of the

school went for the order, the administrator explained that the
whole program would be too expensive and therefore would give
no platforms.
The delays which followed resulted in a wsn ing of
enthusiasm among the people, and the director of the school
began frequent consultations with a representative of the
Institute.

Counsel with the field worker had broken down for

the program had failed on those points at which the latter had
predicted, and the director of the school was in a position of
having to save face.

Meanwhile, the teachers themselves were

beginning to question the soundness of the new "progressive"

TABLE VI
DECISIONS IN THE OUTHOUSE CAMPAIGN
DECISION

BY WHOM

SYSTEM OF OBIGIti

1. To Initiate campaign for build­ sohool director
ing outhouses.

tangential

2. To enlist estate support for
building materials.

school director

tangential

3. To give estate support.

administrator

4. To organize groups for building school director
outhouses.
5. To withdraw estate support.

administrator

6. To anneal to natron.

school director

7. To give estate support sought
by sohool director.

PMSPJl

administrative
tangential

administrative
tangential
administrative

1^3
methods, for they too were encountering difficulties.

Some

ridicule of the program was beginning to manifest itself.
Fortunately for the director of the sohool, the patron arrived
on the estate, and the representative of the Institute advised
that he see the patron.

The patron listened to the proposal,

reversed the decision of the administrator, and ordered that
as soon as pits and huts were constructed platforms were to he
made available.

The sequence of decisions and those involved

are presented in Table VI.
Whether or not the patron made this decision out of
love for his people, fear of difficulty with sanitation
authorities, or because he doubted whether many pits and huts
would actually be completed is a matter of speculation of no
special relevance here.

The Importance of reaching the highest

locus of authority for introducing changes to affect the entire
community on this type of agricultural organization is clear.
This case, of the three cited, Illustrates decision-making on
the basis of authority or formalized, institutionalized rights
to modify the behavior of others.

CHAPTER VIII
SUMMARY AMD CONCLUSIONS
In what ways Is this particular agricultural system
representative of large coffee-producing estates in Costa Rica?
Aqulares resembles other coffee estates only in its more
general features.

It ranks as one of the larger estates.

With

the exception of the colono system, its general authority
organization tends to duplicate that of other large estates in
Latin America, whether coffee, cane, banana, or cacao producing.
The presence of a small administrative group, a managerial set,
and a large proportion of peon day laborers is
out Latin countries.

cbmmon

through­

Their presence is sufficiently widespread

to constitute one of the main factors in the economy of most of
these countries, and in many instances, may constitute one of
the more pressing problems in the assessment of an efficient
use of human and natural resources (see Chapter II, p. 1).
But any statement of the representativeness of
Aquiares must be followed by Immediate qualifications.

Its

geographic location places it in a position similar to other
coffee estates in the Turrialba area with respect to climate,
growing season, and the supply and utilization of labor.

145

Because of the relatively greater precipitation in
the Turrialba area, coffee does not ripen at an even rate of
speed as on the Meseta Central where the rainy season is brief
and less Intense.

This fact seriously affects harvest

activities on all the coffee farms, large or small, in the
Turrialba area.

Whereas estates on the Meseta Central enjoy

the advantage of a uniform arrival of their coffee crop, those
of the Turrialba area are forced to spread out their harvest
activities over several months.

Indeed, we have seen that it

is not unusual for the latter area to have as many as thirteen
pickings during the harvest season.

This means that a labor

force must be supported over a greater period of time.

This

factor, coupled with that of a generally inferior quality of
crop, means greater labor cost and smaller income.

Aqulares

is the only estate in Turrialba which does not import labor.
Other estates follow the policy prevalent in the Meseta
Central with respect to labor supply.

Laborers are secured

for the harvest season from the urban center of Turrialba.

Por

the rest of the year, only small skeleton crews are used.
However, Aqulares maintains a full labor force for the entire
year.
system.

This is made possible, as we have seen, by the colono
Because there is a permanent labor supply residing on

the estate, service facilities are more adequate than on most
large agricultural operations.

It Is the only large plantation

146
in Turrialba with its own church.

In addition, there are the

school, meat shop, commissary, and bus services.

Thus it is

that Aqulares offers the most complete range of services to its
inhabitants.
The population is organized primarily in terms of the
requirements of coffee production.

Three systems commonly

found on large Latin American estates have been described,
namely, the administrative, managerial, and peon systems.

A

fourth, the colono system, is basically a sharecropping
operation, but this system is unique to Aqulares.

Its

importance lies in that almost half of the population on the
entire estate is derived from the families of colonos.
Furthermore, the curious circumstance that it has been success­
fully operated on the estate since 1915 to the advantage of the
owner but has not been copied by other owners merits some
consideration.

Why, then, has not the colono system,

conspicuously successful in Aqulares over a long period of time
as an effective way of dealing with the serious problem of
labor scarcity, been accepted and adopted in other estates in
the Turrialba area?
operative.

Several explanations seem to have been

First, there is a general mistrust of any system

which is even vaguely or superficially suggestive of a sharethe-profit philosophy.

Of course, the owner of Aqulares would

deny this, and is prepared to indicate in terms of money profit

14-7
how this system has worked to his advantage.

Nevertheless,

other owners remain extremely skeptical and among the members
of the national coffee association there are those who regard
it as "pinkishly collective."
communist,11 stated the patron.

"I have even been called" a
Secondly, few owners could be

as selective in recruiting colonos if they should so desire.
Traditional ties with the patron was an Important element in
populating Aqulares.
is a major factor.

Finally, the capital outlay for housing
And once a population has been given

housing, government rulings place extensive responsibilities
upon the patron for their maintenance and for the provision
of health and educational guarantees.
The rationale which accounts for the division of
the labor force into systems such as administrative, managerial,
peon, and colono is derived from the place which property
occupies as that measure recognized by the population which
creates these divisions.

It would have been possible to devise

a formula by which the members of the community could be
separated into strata.

But the problem with which this study

is concerned makes such a procedure less meaningful (than that
of establishing the relation of the various segments of the
population to possession or control of property.
The administrative system teas so designated because
its members maintain the greatest degree of control of and

148

possession of property, which in this case may he equated with
means of production.

Managerial status permits one, hy a

system of tips, bonuses, and higher salaries, to accumulate
not only more property than peones or colonos but also certain
kinds of property.

Few of the latter can purchase a small

farm, while this goal is within the grasp of managerial
employees.

This difference in status is reflected in the

acquisition of certain prestige items such as radios, urban
clothing, and iron stoves.

That the administrative system is

concerned that the managerial employees develop distinct
standards of value is seen in the superior housing and the
relationship of greater accessibility to social intercourse
with members of the administrative system made available to
those of managerial status.
The further test of the hypothesis that relationship
to property is the determining factor in the status system of
Aqulares is seen in the relatively higher status which accrues
to the colono as compared to the peon.

Thus, while a peon

might have a greater gross family income in the course of a
year, the colono tends to receive higher rank because he is in
greater proximity to a control of property of the means of
production.

(see Appendix I)

While the chances of the peon

increasing his status are small, they are nevertheless present.
The channel through which his status may be increased is

149

(l) by the acquisition of a colonla whereby he becomes a member
of the colono system or (2) achievement as a specialist.

In

the latter case, opportunities are limited and may be conditioned
by such factors as kinship or political alliances.

Young men

frequently expressed a desire to the field worker to pursue
some skilled trade, such as carpentry.

Their chief stumbling

block was lack of capital with which to purchase the necessary
tools.

A strategic marriage might enhance their chances for

the acquisition of the necessary capital or for appointment to
a specialist position in which tools were furnished by the
estate.
The relative emphasis given to the way in which
decisions were made and to whom made them springs from the
orientation of this study to problems in applied anthropology.
The decision-making situation gives focus to the dynamics of
the social change situation.

Only some decision-making

situations involve the modification of behavior patterns from
their usual course.
for the change agent.

Such situations are particularly relevant
Nevertheless, the change agent can gain

added insight from a thorough knowledge of how decisions are
normally made and by noting the patterns which recur in this
process.

Decision-making is a highly explicit procedure in a

social structure in which the chain of authority and lines of
communication stand out in bold relief.

Aqulares is one such

150

structure*

The three decisions used as Illustrative material

in the preceding chapter offer a clear indication of how
patterns of dominance and submission within the hierarchy of
the authority are elicited in different decision-making
situations*

They are situations which do not occur every day

in Aqulares, and therefore are not "typical" In the sense that
a decision on the part of the mandador or administrator to
dispatch a crew of laborers to trim shade trees would be
representative.

On the contrary these three decisions involve

unusual problems which occur with relatively low frequency in
Aqulares.

For this very reason, they are of Interest to the

change agent, because the Innovations which he wishes to
Introduce will probably create a similar such decision-making
situation*
The three decisions cited involve members of all the
systems which have been discussed in this study.

In the case of

the P.T.A* meeting, the role of the administrator in setting
the tenor of the meeting and in controlling its direction is
conspicuous.

The relations obtaining among positions of

varying status in the general authority hierarchy of the estate
were altered but slightly even though this was not a primary
activity.

Thus, there is something of a halo effect emanating

from the general organization and influencing the conduct of
decision-making situations in secondary activities.

The outhouse

151

campaign in which an outside change agent attempted to Institute
certain Innovations seemed doomed to failure until the change
agent obtained the sanction of the highest administrative
authority.

Theoretically, it would not be necessary to obtain

the sanction of the patron for Innovations which did not Involve
the use of estate materials, equipment, or personnel, but the
study has Indicated that the Imagery of the patron Is sufficiently
strong to warrant securing his approval on almost any matter
which would Involve persons living on the estate itself.

The

popularity queen contest gives some Indication of the subtleties
Involved In Inter-personal relations In a typical decisionmaking situation created by the members of the community.

While

members of the community are not ordinarily in competition with
each other, especially as far as relations between systems are
concerned, such situations do occur occasionally.

The factor

of competition may throw the normal channels for decision-making
somewhat into the background, although they are never completely
absent.

In this case, however, the significant decisions were

made as a result of consenses arrived at by members within the
dominating system.

The element of compromise is seen entering

the picture here, and the change agent must grapple with this
when he is operating in situations of this nature.

Beoause

predictability Is lessened in such situations, the change agent
may well decide to avoid introducing innovations on this level.

152
The dictum offered by Clyde Kluckhohn which was cited in
connection with the problem of how the field worker

canbest

enter the community seems relevant for the change agent here.1
In a highly stratified society, it is almost always easier to
enter through the top than through any lowerlevels for the
simple reason that it is more difficult to work up the social
scale.

Furthermore, greater deference is usually paid to social

superiors, and the weight which a sanction from a social
superior carries is likely to Influence considerably the
success of a change agent1s program.
The answer to the final query of the study, i.e., to
discover which structural positions in each sub-system were
most strategic in the decision-making process, is partially
answered in the preceding paragraphs.

Positions within each

system are ordered by the general organization of the estate.
In the administrative
authority and line

system, there is a unilinear chain of

of communication between patron and

administrator with the former holding the greater weight.
is in keeping withthe hypothesis that position is
by one's proximity

This

determined

to possession or control of the property!

In the managerial system, the chain of authority is somewhat
split up between the overseer, foreman of the beneficlo. chief
carpenter, and some specialists Buch as the chauffeur, commissary
manager, and mall carrier.
1.

See page 5*

153

However, the overseer Is in more direct control of
the total labor force than his peers and he supplies them with
the laborers who will fall under their supervision.

For that

reason, his position gives him somewhat greater control over the
means of production.

The tasks to which these men assigned are

divergent and their specialized functions make for a minimization
of conflict and a maximization of the autonomy of each of these
managerial employees.

Competition and conflict are minimized

further since the group is bound by an ever-increasing network
of kinship ties.

The expectancies associated with these ties

tend to make members of the managerial system wary of throwing
their weight beyond their specified ares, of authority since
familial repercussions in a crisis would be severe.
The colono. because he has something in the way of
property, of only by contract, feels superior in his lot to that
of the peon.

In addition, the nature of his relationship to the

estate gives him added independence which stands in sharp contrast
to the situation in which the peon finds himself.

This study has

indicated, however, that even among the peones there are status
differentials related to property.

Because the role of father

of the family places one in a position of legal ownership of
household goods, however scant, a married peon has greater status
than his wife, children, or unattached males or females.

Males

in general enjoy greater status than females if only because
they are in the property line.

Being in this position, they also

154

have certain obligations towards their spouses and offspring
since privilege almost always Involves responsibility and
reciprocity.
This study has attempted to describe a social system
and its components in terms of its relation to environment and
in terms of the meaning which property-in-land has for the
members of this social system.

Those distinctions which the

members of the system consider important and even vital for the
maintenance and perpetuation of their ways of life have been
outlined as perceived during field residence.

In terms of the

problems with, which this study is concerned, the unique and
distinct in Aqulares, especially the colono system and differing
coffee production practices attributable to climatic peculiar­
ities have been discussed along with those patterns of living
which give stability and consistency to life.

The economlo

system has been seen primarily as an Instrument of adaptation,
while the religious system has been seen primarily as an
Instrument of integration.
The central organizing theme of this study has been
that proximity to ownership of land constitutes the criterion
for social differentiation and rank.

Systems were arranged

on a continum with the administrative closest to the high and
of the scale, and managerial, colono. and peon systems further
removed, in that order.

155

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Biesanz, John, and Mary Biesanz.
Columbia University Press, 1

Costa Rican Life.

Coon. Carleton S. A Reader In General Anthropology.
H. Holt, 1 9 ^ .
---

New York:
New York:

G-ottschalk, Louis, Clyde Kluckhohn, and Robert Angell. The Use of
Personal Documents In History. Anthropology, and Sociology.
New York: Social Science Research Council, Bulletin 53, 19^5.
Herskovlts, Melville J. The Economic Life of Primitive People.
New York: A. Knopf, 1940.
Jahoda, Marla, Morton Deutsch and Stuart Cook, Research Methods In
Social Relations. New York: Dryden Press, 1951, Part 2.
James, Preston E.

Latin America.

New York:

Odyssey Press, 1950.

Kendall, Maurice A. The Advanced Theory of Statistics. New York:
Llppenroth Co. 19&3, Vol. II.
Lewis, Oscar. Life In a. Mexican Village: Tepoztlan Restudied.
Urbana, 111.: University of Illinois Press, 1951*
Loomis, Charles P., et al. The Anatomy of a Costa Rican Community.
East Lansing, Michigan: Michigan State College Press, publica­
tion pending.
McBride, George M. The Land Systems of Mexico.
National Geographical Society, 1923.

New York:

________ . Chile:
Land and 3oclety.
Geographical Society, 193^«

The National

New York:

The

Morrison, Paul C., and Jorge Leon. "Sequent Occupance, Turrialba,
Central District, Costa Rica", Turrialba. Vol. I, No. k,
pp. 185-198, April, 1951.
________ . Land Utilization In Central District, Turrialba Canton,
Costa Rica. East Lansing: Michigan State College. Turrialba,
Costa Rica: Inter-American Institute of Agricultural Sciences,

19^8 .

Norris, Thomas L. and Paul C. Morrison.
"Some Aspects of Morphology
and Life on a Large Costa Rican Flnca" (unpublished paper read
before the meeting of the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts and
Letters, Ann Arbor, Michigan, April 11, 1952).

156
« "Aspects of Coffee Production and Processing on a Large
Costa Rican Finca", (unpublished manuscript, Department of Geology
and Geography, Michigan State College, East Lansing, Michigan, 1952).
Norris, Thomas L.

"Economic Systems", in Charles P. Loomis, et al.

The Anatomy of a. Costa R1can Community.

East Lansing, Michigan;

1952, publication pending.
___________ .

"Religious Systems", in Charles P. Loomis, et al.

Anatomy of a Costa Rican Community.
publication pending.

Neumann, Franz.

East Lansing, Michigan:

The
1952,

"Approaches to the Study of Political Power",

Political Science Q u a r t e r l y .
June, 19^0.

Vol. LXV, No. 2, pp. 161-180,

Painter, Norman W. "Locality Systems as Aspects of Human Ecology",
in Charles P. Loomis, et al. The Anatomy of a Costa Rican
Community. East Lansing, Michigan!! 1932, publication pending.
Proctor, Charles H. and Charles P. Loomis.
"Analysis of Socloiheti'lc
Data", in Research Methods in Social Relations by Maria Jahoda,
Morton Deutsch and Stuart Cook. New York: Dryden Press, 1951»
• •
Radcliffe-Brown, Alfred R.
Science of Society.

19^8 .

Russell, Bertrand A.
& Co., 1938.

The Nature of a Theoretical Natural

Chicago:

University of Chicago Bookstore,

P o w e r . a New Social Analysis.

London:

¥. Norton

Tanner, E. L. "Agricultural Policy, Costa Rica" (unpublished
manuscript, U. S. Embassy, San Jose, Costa Rica, 19^*8).
U. S. Department of Commerce. "Costa Rica", International Reference
Service. Vol. L, No. 10, May, 19^7•
Valle, Carlos L. "Colonias Agricolas con Hombres que Sepan Hacer
Producir la Tierra", Suelo Tloo. San Jose, Costa Rica: Revista
de Agricultura e Industrie, Vol. IV, No. 20, pp. 163-169, MayJune, 195°•

157

APPENDIX I
RANK STANDING- OF SAMPLE OF HEADS OF HOUSEHOLDS OCCUPATIONALLY
BY SYSTEMS AS DETERMINED BY AVERAGE RANK SCORES

Administration ‘
Managerial Soorc Colono Score rangentlal Soore
Soore
Patron
Adminis­
trator

Peon Soore

- ■
- •
Foreman of
Beneflolo
Overseer
Chief
Carpenter
Chauffeur

l.£
4.2
4.£
4.S
Police
Agent
3chool
Director

5.4
6.2
lumber­
jack

8.6

•Independent
farmer
10.1
Iselstant
Ln Commiss­
ary
10*2

Commissary
Manager

14.C

Foreman In
Colonlas

Solono

14.0

Solono

21.8

Solono

22.5

Solono
Solono

24.1
27.1

15.S

Foreman in
Cane fields
22.0
Stock
Manager

24.0

Foreman, ox
drivers
29.0

Jarpenter 29.2
30.1
[all
carrier 32.2

*fatchman

Solono

33.7

* Owns farm outside astate and works part-time peon

15S

AdmScoreratlV€ 4anag®rlal Scor€ Colono Soore Tangential Soore

Peon Soore
Carpenter 35.7

•Independent
farmer
37.2
Colono
Colono
Assistant
stockman 41.5
Peon
41.7
Solono
Solono
Solono
Solono
Colono
Ox driver 46.2
wolono
Colono
Colono
Foreman,
work crew

47.2
Colono
iolono
Solono
Colono

47.6
49.2
49.
49.4

Solono
Colono

51.2
51.2

Colono
olono

holono

55.2
55.2

60.;

Peon
Peon
Peon

49.4
50.5
51.1

Peon
Peon

54.9
54.9

bx
driver
Peon
Peon
Domestic
Peon
Peon

56.3
56.3
57.3
57.4
57.4
60.1

Ox driver
Peon
Peon
Peon

61.3
61.7
61.9
62.8

* Was peon at start of study, but secured Independent farm at the time
ranking was done.

159

Managerial ScoreColono Score Tangential Soore
Colono

Peon Soore

63.2

Colono

65•3

Colono
Colono
Solono
Colono
Solono
Solono

66.1
66.5
67.6
67.6

?eon
5eon
?eon

63.3
63.4
64.8

>eon

65.5

?eon
?eon
?eon

69.1
69.1
69.2

?eon
>eon
?eon
?eon
)x driver
?eon
5eon
seon
*6on
>eon
Jeon
Somestic
Scmestio
?eon
Somestic
Somestlc

69.7
72.2
73.2
75.6
76.0
76.3
78.0
79.0
80.2
80.2
80.3
83.5
83.7
84.1
85.1
85.3

?eon
domestic
Comestlo

91.6
91.7
93.0

68.0

68.6

Solono

Colono

74.7

* Working coffee lot Independently, right to which was granted by patron
as compensation for injuries sustained when working as a peon.

160
APPENDIX II
METHODOLOGICAL NOTE:

THE USE OF JUDGES

Among the many systems used for ranking and stratifying
social systems are levels of living indices,
single criteria,
Aqulares,

(occupation), and Judges.

sociometric choices,
In the study of

Judges were selected from the native population and

asked to rank members of a sample.
If Judges are to be used, the first problem with which
the investigator is confronted is the selection of Judges, and
he must ask himself the question "What are the criteria by which
Judges may best be l o c a t e d ? "

There seems to be no standard

formula for the selection of Judges, nor is there consensus as
to what qualities make the best Judges.

It may be entirely

possible that such selection would be dependent upon the tasks
w h i c h the Judges were to perform, and what the investigator
expeoted to elicit from the informants over and above a rank
number or group location for the members of his sample.

Also,

it is not known what number makes an efficient panel of Judges.
However,

since the technique of using Judges is quite common,

and since the technique is used in several Institute studies,
the whole procedure merits critical study and further research.
The following text represents what one investigator did, largely
on the basis of trial,

error, intuition and initial experiment.

It is included here, not because it offers anything unique, but
because further research may be aided by records of what other
investigators have done.

161

Several arbltray decisions were made.
were to he ten Judges,

First,

or ten percent of the sample.

there

Second,

they were to he residents of ten years or more tenure in the
area to assure that they would he acquainted with most of the
members of the sample.

Third,

they were to represent a variety

of occupational positions of high and low prestige,

show some

dispersion as to age, and were to include at least one female.
Once these decisions h a d been made,

the investigator began

looking for likely informants meeting these criteria.

It was

not difficult to find a large number of persons meeting these
criteria,

and to narrow down the possible choices,

the further

criterion of constant first hand contact w i t h a wide range of
persons in the community was added.

The assumption was that

such persons would be more likely to have intimate knowledge
of the living conditions of a wide range of people.
final selection,

In the

the rapport which the investigator enjoyed

w i t h informants was perhaps the single most Influential factor.
The following Judges were finally chosen:

Judge

Age

Sex

1.
2.
3*
k.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

5k
2+5
27
38
^0
30
kQ
k?
2k
65

Male
Male
Female
Male
Male
Male
Male
Male
Male
Male

Length of Residence
35
2+0
20
19
15
2k
25
25
2k
12

years
years
years
years
years
years
years
years
years
years

Overseer
Police agent
School teacher
Watchman
Commissary clerk
Carpenter
Colono
Colono
Peon
Peon

162

Each Judge was interviewed separately.

The Judges

went through several sessions in which they were asked chiefly
about their Jobs, coffee production, and the history of their
families.

The chief purpose of these preliminary interviews

was to furnish a basis upon which the actual ranking sessions
could be established.
It was thought that the interview in which ranking
would

take place should be as much in the hands of the informant

as possible.

The object was not only to get the informant to

rank individuals, but also to verbalize the bases upon which he
made differences.
hundred 3 * 5

The investigator gave the informants one

cardB» each with the name of a member of the

sample printed on it.

He was then given the following instructions:

"For some time now, we have been talking together
about Aquiares. You know most of these people
well. Now all people are alike in some respects,
but we are also different in other ways. On
these cards are the names of many people in
Aquiares. You will recognize most of them
immediately. I want you to go through the
cards, one by one, and put the people who are
more or less alike into groups."
If the Informant asked "what kind of groups", he was
given

an evasive answer, such as, "Put them in groups according

to the characteristics you think are important!5

The informant

was told that he could make as few or as many groups as he wished.
After the cards were arranged in groups, the informant
was asked on what bafils he had differentiated the cards into

163

groups, and these observations were recorded.

The informant

was then asked to rank the cards in each group.
done,

When this waB

the investigator selected every fifth card and checked

it against cards above and below it to ascertain whether or
not the informant was certain about his ranking.
The Judges made from four to six groups.

There was

little consensus as to the breaking points between groups, and
when put in an array,

it became evident that while the order

of ranking seemed relatively consistent, the goupings themselves
were widely disparate.
In the attempt to resolve this dilemma,
called the Judges together in a single meeting.

the investigator
Ranking accord­

ing to averages was shown and the problem of the groupings
explained.

Five of the Judges agreed that the first eight

persons constituted a distinct group, and one held out for the
first six.

The remaining Judges who were unable to attend were

consulted later, and asked again to establish the first group.
Two of the Judges drew the line to include the eighth, and the
remaining two Judges drew the lines to Include the eleventh and
seventh respectively.

No effective concensus could be reached

on the other possible groupings,

although all the Judges agreed

unanimously that one would include at least the following
sixteen persons in rank order.

164

While the use of a panel of Judges at a single meeting
was not completely successful,

the technique seems to be

sufficiently promising to warrant further experimentation with
groups of Judges acting in a body.
The rankings of the Individual Judges were submitted
to some statistical analysis in order to determine the extent
to w h ich there was agreement and disagreement among the Judges.
A "concordance coefficient" expressed by the symbol "W" was
applied to data from Aquiares as well as to rankings for Judges
in other communities in the Turrialba area.1
value of .65 for Aquiares.
yielded .58 ; in Atirro,

In San Juan:

Sur the same test

.57; and Jesus Maria,

agreement of Judges in Aquiares,

"W“ yielded a

.26.

Thus, the .

expressed by the value.. 65 , was

found to be significant at the .01 percent level.

Furthermore,

of the communities for w h ich this statistic was computed, Aquiares
Judges were definitely in greater agreement as to the rank of
the persons in the sample than in any of the other communities.
This may have implications relative to the stability and
Integration in the social structure of Aquiares, although only
by inference.
An attempt to evaluate the extent and possible
explanations for disagreement among Judges is found in
"Appendix I" of The Anatomy of a Costa Rican Community.2
1.

The statistic "W" or concordance coefficient is found in
Maurice H. Kendall's The Advanced Theory of Statistics,
Vol. I, p. 411

2.

Charles P. Loomis, et a l , The Anatomy of a. Costa Rican
C o m m u n i t y . "Appendix II" by Charles H. Proctor.

165

The following array for Aquiares has been abstracted from
Table II of that Appendix:
Table II.

FACTOR MATRICES FOR AN ANALYSIS OF
AGREEMENTS AMONG JUDGES IN 1950.
Aquiares

Judge

Factor
I

1.
2.
3*
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

.83
.71 '
.82
*

.84
.78
•73
.77
.78
.67
.81

II
-.26
-.30
.05
-.22
.20
-.09

.19
.12
.15
.25

Inspection of Factor II in the
column Indicates which Judges are close together in their
estimates of people's ranks.

Judges no. 3* and no. 6 are close

together and are centrally located in the distribution.

Judges

no. 7, no. 8, no. 9, no. 10, and no. S-'.. represent a tendency
to agree on the rankings in one direction, and Judges no. 1,
no. 2, and no. 4 in the opposite direction.

Case data which

the author has on each of these Judges revealed' no information
which might give insight into the criteria which the different
groups might have been using, aside from the fact that the
latter mentioned group are themselves high ranking managerial
employees.

The case data on those Individuals about whom

166

judges were in extreme disagreement was examined and inspection
seemed to indicate marital status,

residence mobility, and

errors by the Judges in making the initial rankings may have
some bearing.

Many of the extreme cases were bachelors, one

had recently passed from peon status to that of independent
land owner and had moved to San Jose early in the residence of
the field worker.

The average score of one individual was

affected considerably because one Judge ranked him in the low
eighties while all other Judges ranked him among the first
sixteen.

This may have been an error.

A tentative hypothesis

is that Judges tend to base their decisions on degree of
conformity to certain ideal patterns,

and Individuals deviating

from these patterns elicit disparate responses from the Judges.
The age, sex, and occupational roles portrayed in
Figure 5 gives some further insight into this explanation.

The

Judges used in Aquiares were asked to rank different positions
in the community,

some time after the ranking of individuals.

They were first questioned as to the kinds of people there
might be in the community, and a list of thirty-two occupational
and familial positions drawn up.

The judges then ranked these

positions and the averages computed.

As Figure 5 indicates,

there seems to be some basic status requisites contingent upon
one's age and sex.

After these have been met, differentiation

seems then to be largely a function of occupation.

This evidence

based on the evaluation of positions or "roles'* rather than
individual personalities suggests that this approach more
directly elicits the distinctive status characteristics
illustrative of a given position,

and minimizes the idiosyn­

cratic personal peculiarities which may operate when individuals
themselves are ranked.
There are several advantages of the technique of
using judges in ranking.

First, the technique elicits from

the judges the distinctions for social differentiation which
the population itself considers important, assuming,

of course,

that the Judges represent the opinion of the community.

Second,

it provides a wealth of verbal material Indicating the kinds
of criteria and attitudes involved in social differentiation.
Third, it circumvents the difficulties in devising formulae for
ranking people in terms of some kind of index based on material
possession,

etc.

One is not forced to labor under the assump­

tion that the items in a given index are meaningful social
differentiae in the population with which he deals, nor with
the problem of what items and how many are needed for a valid
and reliable formula.

Fourth,

the technique is simple, direct,

and rapid.
But the technique has a number of serious limitations.
First,

it is useful only in communities with a population small

enough that the judges are intimately acquainted with most of

163

the members of the community.

Second,

Judges may disagree to

the extent that no systematic criteria for class differentiation
may he perceived.

This was not so In Aquiares, hut was true

of the community of Jesus Maria.

Where there are definitely

ohservahle differences in styles of living in a community,
the investigator is Justifiably unwilling to assume that the
failure of the Judges to agree means that there are no
systematic differences.

Third,

the use of cards is limited

to literate populations unless the investigator wants to read
the names.
write.

In Aquiares, most of the population can read and

This was not so in San Juan Sur, where some of the

Judges were non-literate.

In such cases, the investigator

must handle the cards and he is not free for note-taking.
Furthermore, the procedure then requires more time and is more
tedious.

Fourth,

careful investigators may not he willing to

accept the assumptions underlying the criteria used in the
selection of Judges.

It is conceivable that five Judges

would he as adequate as ten.
been better than ten.

Or perhaps twenty would have

It is also doubtful that length of

residence can be used alone,

for one frequently finds persons

living in a community for a long period of time without knowing
about many other persons,

or without recognizing their names.

While it may seem wise to use a wide range of positions im the
occupational hierarchy,

the investigator finds himself forced

169

to devise a technique which, by its very nature, may well be
double-barreled.

He may take status differentiation by

occupation for granted and then use this distinction to explain
it.