The Caribbean as a Sociocultural Area

Abstract

In this essay, Sidney W. Mintz discusses the Caribbean region by way of a number of attributes that, presented in a meaningful sequence, demarcate a large area of discussion: (1) a lowland, subtropical, insular ecology; (2) rapid extermination of the native population; (3) the location of the islands as a sphere of European overseas capitalism based mainly on sugar plantation slavery; (4) a correlative development of island social structures with little internal differentiation and a bipolar configuration; (5) ongoing interaction between plantations and small-scale peasant agriculture; (6) successive, massive immigration of new laboring populations (7) prevailing absence of an ideology of national identity (8) the persistence of colonialism, and of a colonial atmosphere, longer than any other area outside of Western Europe; (9) a high degree of individualization, particularly in economic terms, as an aspect of social organization.