THE EMERGING SOCIO-STRUCTURAL FRAMEWORK OF THE 'UPDATE' IN CUBA: CHALLENGES TO SOCIAL EQUITY/EL CUADRO SOCIOESTRUCTURAL EMERGENTE DE LA 'ACTUALIZACION' EN CUBA: RETOS A LA EQUIDAD SOCIAL

The political and social project that holds power in Cuba sets the goal of development as the elimination of class inequalities and full social inclusion. In this way, an essential measure to judge the character of the changes in progress is to evaluate their regressive or progressive quality in terms of progress in social equality. This text is involved in such an evaluation, exploring two angles: the model of social structure implicit in the 'update' of the model (the mechanisms of operation of the social policies and programmes that it introduces) and its effect of modification of the preceding social-structural framework. based on a review of the programmatic documents of change and the analysis of public statistics, the work shows that the reform programme has been confronted technically and politically by very diverse actors and manages to respond largely to recommendations made academics and the population. However, there are important omissions, in the strategic sphere, of some highly powerful aspects in the creation of inequalities such as situations of poverty and the social mechanisms that structurally (re)produce, the processes of social exclusion in terms of access to employment, income, and housing opportunities, among others, that have racial and gender inequality among their causes. Positive discrimination tools, with a greater amplitude for the groups that are lagging behind, are neglected elements in the programmatic platform of the updating process. The resulting sociostructural framework draws attention to the results of reconfiguration, accompanied by a widening of the equity gaps and the persistence of poverty and disadvantage. In order for this reconfiguration stage to improve equity performance and not seriously harm it, social policy on the structural determinants of the reproduction of inequalities and disadvantages at both the micro and macrosocial levels should be strengthened. Keywords: socio-structural picture, economic and social reform, equity, social policy El proyecto politico y social en el poder en Cuba, coloca como meta del desarrollo, la eliminacion de las desigualdades de clase y la inclusion social plena. de esta forma, un eje imprescindible para juzgar el caracter de los cambios en curso es evaluar su calidad regresiva o progresiva en terminos de los avances de igualdad social. Este texto se involucra en tal evaluacion, explorando dos angulos: el modelo de estructura social implicito en la 'actualizacion' (los mecan