CLASS

19th-20th centuries : Not only Catholicism, but also popular religion in culture are highly questioned during the rule of the liberal elite. Popular culture and popular religious beliefs are conceived by the liberal elites as a hindrance to the modernisation of the society.

Liberal elites depreciate popular culture and religion as barbaric. Their objective is to convert Argentina from a "savage” and “uncivilised” nation into a modern and prosperous nation state. The political elites create symbolic boundaries between clases cultas/gente decente (cultivated classes/decent people) and masas incultas (uncultivated masses). Indios and mestizos are portrayed as barbaric and an obstacle for the development of the country.

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Aiming for social and economic progress, the political elite implements civilisation programs that entail the diminution of the “barbarian” indigenous and mestizo culture. Civilisation means for the elite progress, rationality and science, in short, modernity. Europe is seen as the incarnation of the civilisation. Therefore, the civilisation campaign embraces, on one hand, policies to attract white European immigrants and on the other, education programs to civilise the country according to European cultural patterns.