Abstract
This article reports the findings of an investigation of the period of economic reform in Cuba in the late 1990s, through a case study of individuals active in a sector created by this reform: legal, dollar-earning self-employment (cuenta-propismo). The specific focus of the study is a tourism-oriented craft fair in Old Havana. The questions I seek to answer include: Are there particular characteristics that typify indiViduals participating in this sector? Do the demographics of involvement reflect persistent forms of social differentiation in Cuban society? Given that such “petty capitalist” behaviour was long labeled as “counter-revolutionary” by Cuban authorities, to what extent is political ideology a factor in participation? Conversely, is participation in self-employment—and, more genemlly, are the effects of current market-oriented reform in Cuba—fomenting ideological change and encoumging the emergence of a different social ethic? If so, what implications does this hold for the hegemony of the revolutionary government and its particular version of socialism?
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