Book excerpt: This book confronts critical problems being experienced by Latin America in its quest for development. Special attention is paid to the living conditions of the popular sectors over the last half-century under “industrial colonialism.” The author’s framework of analysis weaves together key structural variables including the neoliberal mode of knowledge creation for material production in order to unveil the actual mechanisms of the reproduction of this system. The decisive role of science in the development of the productive forces forms the basis of explicating the “state development function.” The external and internal manifestations of the main underlying contradictions in Latin America are systematically exposed as they unfold from the region’s particular integration into the imperialist system.