Question

Analyze the argument that high levels of inequality have led to political instability in Latin America.(1 point)
Responses

An elite social group with its roots in the power of the Spanish, Portuguese, and French colonial elite still controls much of the region's resources and money. This causes institutions to look after the needs of this elite group, rather than all of a country’s population.
An elite social group with its roots in the power of the Spanish, Portuguese, and French colonial elite still controls much of the region's resources and money. This causes institutions to look after the needs of this elite group, rather than all of a country’s population.

Over time, Latin America’s communist economic and social policies have cooled. For example, many Latin Americans are now able to own private businesses, which was not allowed in the past.
Over time, Latin America’s communist economic and social policies have cooled. For example, many Latin Americans are now able to own private businesses, which was not allowed in the past.

In the middle of the twentieth century, Cuba appeared to be doing quite well. It was growing economically and socially. By the 1950s, however, it was no longer doing so well.
In the middle of the twentieth century, Cuba appeared to be doing quite well. It was growing economically and socially. By the 1950s, however, it was no longer doing so well.

Throughout the twentieth century, economic growth was focused on institutions, such as plantations, that do not supply a lot of well-paid employment. The region has fewer well-paid jobs available than other regions.

Answer 1

Best answers: the elite-control/institutional-bias response and the growth-on-low-employment-sectors response.

- Elite control → institutions favor elites: explains how entrenched inequality produces exclusion, weakens legitimacy, and provokes unrest or political challenges.
- Growth concentrated in plantations/low-paid sectors: explains how economic structure produces few well‑paid jobs, sustaining high inequality and social pressures that fuel instability.

The other responses are off‑target (mischaracterize Latin America as broadly “communist” or give a vague, historically inaccurate point about Cuba) and don’t link inequality clearly to political instability.