Dependency and the Urban Experience: São Paulo's Public Service Sector, 1885–1913
In a recent critical survey of scholarly writing on dependency theory, Ronald H. Chilcote noted that, 'like other theory in an infant stage, dependency theory has spawned a plethora of interpretations and applications, and has been adopted by ideologues on all sides of the political spectrum'.' This enthusiastic response, while welcome for the new perspective it affords on underdevelopment, has led some Latin Americanists to caution against the over-application of dependency theory and the unwarranted inflation of its explanatory power. Richard M. Morse, speaking specifically of urban development observes that 'the "external dependency" thesis... easily leads to dogmatism',2 and Phillipe Schmitter warns against the indiscriminate use of the theory to explain all of Latin America's ills.3 Such caveats have merit, especially in view of the plasticity of current thinking about dependency. This paper, therefore, adopts a cautious approach; it examines dependency as one of a number of factors which affected public service development in Sao Paulo. Of necessity, this case study's contribution to the dependency controversy remains modest. But it will help to assess two important facets of that general theory: the role of vende patria Europeanized elites in preventing independent national development 4; and the assertion that external dominance has 'manifold and sometimes hidden or subtle