Mexico City, Mexico
(photo credit: Roland Soong)
The Technology Elite of Latin America
Part 2: Technology Aspects
Mexico City, Mexico
(photo credit: Roland Soong)
Having just defined who the technology elite are, we will look at the technology assets of these people. In making this inventory, it is helpful to divide them into those that are used in the definition of the technology score and those that are not used. For the first group of assets, it is tautological that the ownership incidences should be higher because they are components of the definition of membership.
In the following table, we show the ownership incidences of the assets that are used in definition of the technology score. There are three columns of numbers in the table. We first show the ownership incidence among the technology elite. For comparison, we show the ownership incidence among the survey population. The last column contains the index, which is the ratio of the two ownership incidences multiplied by 100. An index greater than 100 means that the incidence is higher among the technology elite than in the total population.
| Technology asset | % Technology Elite owns | % Total Population Owns | Index |
| Automobile | 97% | 39% | 246 |
| Motorcycle | 15% | 7% | 200 |
| Personal Computer | 73% | 11% | 662 |
| Internet access from home | 17% | 2% | 917 |
| Any telephone Wired telephone Cellular telephone |
98% 97% 29% |
49% 47% 7% |
200 208 445 |
| Clothes washer | 82% | 50% | 163 |
| Clothes dryer | 30% | 14% | 217 |
| Dishwasher | 11% | 3% | 375 |
| Refrigerator | 97% | 82% | 118 |
| Stereo system | 83% | 52% | 159 |
| CD Player | 85% | 40% | 212 |
| Radio | 98% | 91% | 108 |
| Color television set | 98% | 93% | 105 |
| Satellite television dish | 33% | 11% | 304 |
| Camcorders | 25% | 5% | 533 |
| Video cassette recorder | 90% | 42% | 214 |
| Video game machine | 38% | 17% | 221 |
| Fax machine | 12% | 2% | 661 |
| Calculator | 82% | 49% | 167 |
| Electronic organizer | 21% | 5% | 412 |
(source: Los Medios y Mercados de Latinoamérica 1998)
In this next table, we show the ownership incidences for technology assets that were not used in the definition of the technology score.
|
Technology asset |
% Technology Elite owns | % Total Population Owns | Index |
| Electric blender | 81% | 43% | 188 |
| Electric can opener | 14% | 5% | 272 |
| Electric food processor | 44% | 13% | 344 |
| Electric iron | 99% | 91% | 109 |
| Electric mixer | 96% | 83% | 116 |
| Electric toaster | 36% | 17% | 214 |
| Electric range/oven | 36% | 16% | 233 |
| Gas range/oven | 93% | 82% | 114 |
| Microwave oven | 59% | 19% | 317 |
| Sewing machine | 63% | 42% | 149 |
| Vacuum cleaner | 57% | 20% | 291 |
| Air conditioner | 27% | 9% | 310 |
| Electric fan | 84% | 64% | 132 |
| Water heater | 28% | 18% | 158 |
(source: Los Medios y Mercados de Latinoamérica 1998)
From these tables, we observe that the indices were always greater than 100. Simply put, the technology elite owns more of everything technological in nature. The indices are also greatest for new technologies that are not just household appliances but have business applications --- namely, personal computers, internet access, fax machines, cellular telephones, electronic organizers, etc.
OTHER DISCUSSIONS ABOUT THE TECHNOLOGY ELITE OF LATIN AMERICA
(posted by Roland Soong on 1/14/00)
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