This article proposes to analyze social policies in Latin America in their fundamental determinations as operated by the capitalist order, from an original angle: one which recognizes dependency as the principal determining contradiction of the region's problems. To decipher the basic determinations of the social policies and their historic viability in the context of contemporary political-institutional arrangements in Latin America, the theoretical-methodological reference of the analysis is derived directly from Marx's thinking. To this degree, the Marxist reflection and Latin American social thought have proceeded together with a broad political movement of libertarian content and temperament, which found in the formulations about the theory of dependence their moment of greatest connection in terms of political praxis. The critical character of this thinking and its link with Marxism were fundamental for consolidating it as one of the best critical traditions to interpret and, more importantly, transform Latin American reality.
Latin America; social policies; Marxist Theory of Dependency