Revolution and the Rebirth of Inequality

Revolution and the Rebirth of Inequality: A Theory Applied to the National Revolution in Bolivia by Jonathan Kelley and Herbert S. Klein investigates how revolutions reshape social structures, asking whether promises of equality endure or if inequality reemerges in new forms. The authors develop a theory that while revolutions from below—such as those in France, Russia, China, and Bolivia—abolish exploitative elites and initially reduce inequality, in the long run education, skills, land, and capital allow some among the formerly oppressed to rise faster than others. As these advantages accumulate and are transmitted to children, new forms of inherited privilege develop, and inequality begins to grow again. Revolutions, they argue, do improve standards of living for the majority, but not evenly, and not indefinitely.

The book applies this theory to Bolivia’s National Revolution of 1952, when the Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario dismantled centuries-old elites, disbanded the army, redistributed land, and nationalized mines and industries. Drawing on an unusually rich dataset—including ethnographic fieldwork, census data, and a large household survey—the authors provide one of the first systematic analyses of how a successful radical revolution affected ordinary people. They examine pre-revolutionary inequality, describe the dramatic upheaval of 1952, and trace the consequences over the following decade and beyond: shifts in income distribution, changes in social mobility, and the persistence or rebirth of privilege. By combining theoretical modeling with rigorous empirical evidence, the book offers both a case study of Bolivia and a broader framework for understanding the paradoxical outcomes of revolutions worldwide.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1981.